(Author's note: I updated this and fixed a few trouble spots. I'm still not completely satisfied but it's going to have to do for now. J)
Chapter 4
The long, brightly lit corridor was empty except for two guards delivering the evening meal to the prisoners. One guard stood watch while the other lowered the shield and slid a tray across the floor. Once the shield returned to normal, the inmates picked up the tray and sat on their bunks to eat since the rooms did not contain a table.
When the guards reached the last room, Sheppard and Beckett's escort instructed from behind them for the shield to be left open. The guard holding McKay's dinner silently passed it to Sheppard before returning down the hallway.
The teammates eyed the contents on the tray with distaste before all thoughts of what the mystery meal might entail when they caught their first glimpse of McKay. Lying curled on his side facing the wall, he was holding his sore arm tightly against his chest with his eyes clenched shut. Fine tremors shook his entire body and his breathing had an occasional ragged hitch as he gasped from the pain lancing through his skull. Captured in the throes of a full-blown migraine, he wasn't aware of their arrival.
Beckett cast a quick glimpse to the major and then to the guard behind them. Not wanting his identity as a physician revealed, he shifted with fake nervousness and eyed their friend warily. "Want me to check him out, Major?"
Sheppard played his part and nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah, see what you can do for him until we can get him back to the doc."
The cot barely had room for him to sit on beside Rodney as he placed his hand over the ailing man's forehead checking for a temperature and then reaching down to take his pulse. When Rodney shifted slightly, Beckett leaned forward to speak softly, "Take it easy, lad. I'm here to help you until we can get you back to the medics on Atlantis," punctuating his words with a soft squeeze to Rodney's uninjured shoulder. The physicist appeared to understand when he slowly reached out and touched Beckett's with his free hand.
The doctor hated seeing his irritating friend in such discomfort and not being able to help. It was clear to him that Rodney had the mother of all headaches, but anymore than that was speculation. "One to ten, how bad is it?"
Rodney swallowed, tucking his chin further to his chest. "Ten," he whispered. When Scotsman's cool hands rested on his forehead and slowly kneaded his temple, he relaxed minutely. Daring to crack one eye open and look up, he instantly grimaced and clenched his eyes once more to block out the glaring overhead light. "Please, turn it off," he gasped, feeling his stomach roil and threaten to let go.
Unzipping his jacket, Beckett glanced over to Sheppard and then looked towards the overhead panel, "Major, can you do somethin' about the lights?"
Sheppard had been standing in the doorway, cautiously keeping an eye on his friends as well as the guards at the end of the hall. Grateful for some small way to help, he quickly stepped out of the room.
In the mean time, Beckett slipped off his warm jacket and draped it over the physicist's head, blocking the obtrusive light. Removing a bottle of water and a blister pack of pain meds from his field kit, he popped out two pills. "Have you eaten anything since you've been here, lad?"
Rodney's 'no' was barely audible from underneath the coat "Just some water when I got back."
"You need to put a wee bit in your stomach before I give you somethin' for the pain. Do you think you could keep a few bites of a power bar down?" Rummaging through his pack, he located two foil wrapped bars.
A small sigh emanated from the still figure before his free hand opened. Eating anything was the last thing Rodney wanted to do but if it meant pain relief, he was willing to give it a try. Feeling the familiar shape tucked in his palm; he brought it under the dark jacket and took a small bite. Hesitantly swallowing, he waited to sense what his stomach would do before taking another bite. The uncomfortable growl of hunger won out over the nausea of the headache. Halfway through the bar, he tired and his hand drooped with exhaustion as he lost hold of his dinner.
Beckett reached for it but stopped when the lights in the cell dimmed considerably. Glancing back out to the hallway, he noticed that the other cell across the way remained brightly lit. The individual seated on the opposite cot was watching him intently and when he made eye contact, the individual cautiously lifted the cup from his dinner tray and dumped it in the small sink, shaking his head slowly. Frowning, Carson lifted the cup from Rodney's tray and sniffed. There was a hint of something medicinal.
Casually rising to his feet, he walked the few steps to the tap and ran the water, pretending to rinse the cup for a fresh drink. Carrying it back to Rodney's side, he sniffed the fresh water, discovering the same scent, before he set the cup on the floor. Nodding thanks to the other prisoner, his gesture was subtly returned.
Lifting his jacket from over the physicist's head, he pressed the back of his hand to Rodney's cheeks and forehead. "Do you think you can keep a few tablets down?" he asked quietly. "It's safe to open your eyes now, lad. The major got the lights adjusted so they won't hurt your eyes."
Rodney grunted, holding out his hand, before closing it around the tablets Beckett handed him. Popping them in his mouth, he washed them down with water from a water bottle. Waiting for the blessed relief he hoped would soon come, he allowed himself to relax as Beckett continued to skillfully knead his temples, the lights no longer burned into his brain, and he was no longer alone with that crazed Noda. The Pennatrocan commander had never moved during the questioning, he only changed the brightness of lights that shone on McKay to the point that the physicist thought his head would explode for sure from his headache.
"How's he doing?" Sheppard's concerned voice broke the stillness of the room.
Beckett turned around in surprise; he hadn't heard the major return. "He isn't talking yet. Let's give him a few minutes for the medication to take affect." Reaching down to pick the cup off the floor, Carson set it on the edge of the sink. "You know the stories about the water south of the border?"
The Major's eyes went from the cup, to Rodney, and then to Beckett. "They gave him a shower."
Nodding, Beckett looked back down at his patient. "Knowing Rodney's penchant for allergies and bad reactions to foreign stimuli, I believe we know what part of his problem is."
SG: A
Dr. Weir sat stiffly at the table with Sgt. Stackhouse on one side of her and Teyla on the other. The two teammates had assumed the position of her bodyguards and neither hell nor high water, nor the little Commander Noda would have access to her.
Examining the evidence displayed before her, she studied Rodney's uniform and then the visual images of the dead scientist. The blood on the clothing was limited to Rodney's pant legs, as if he was wiping his hands. Blood on the images consisted of a smear on the woman's nose, most likely from when he'd pinched it, performing CPR. Glancing towards Noda's smug figure across the table, she pointed to the dead woman's picture. "Did you find the weapon that killed her?"
"No."
"Commander, I'm not trained in physiology, but it appears that she was struck on the back of the head. I don't understand why you would believer that Dr. McKay did that to her, and then attempted to resuscitate her?"
The little man's face pinched in irritation; he did not like his authority questioned by anyone, particularly a woman. "I asked Mr. Mc…"
"Dr. McKay," Weir interrupted with a half smile.
"Yes," Noda growled. "He admits to arguing with her. Perhaps he found her intolerance to accept his point of view disturbing."
"Disturbing enough that he wanted to kill her?" Weir shook her head. "Dr. McKay is a valuable member of my crew. In the amount of time that I have known him, I have never seen him attack another individual because of a difference of opinion. As a matter of fact, I've never seen him hurt anyone."
When he didn't respond to her comment, she leaned on the table, directing her gaze straight at him, making him shift in his seat. "I want him back Commander Noda. Unless you have more than this," she waved her hand over the items on the table, "circumstantial evidence, I don't believe you have the right to hold my team member."
Noda stood up abruptly, sending his chair back into the wall with a thump. "There will be a trial and there will be punishment. What you want, Doctor, is really none of my concern. Our facility is closed for the remainder of the day. I will have your people sent down from upstairs, immediately." With that, he exited the room.
Dr. Weir reached out and touched the uniform, amazed that Noda had left his evidence behind. Glancing between the silent figures of Teyla and Stackhouse, she gestured towards the contents on the table. "Your thoughts?"
Teyla's slim hand reached out to touch the uniform, "I agree with you, Dr. Weir. I also have never seen Dr. McKay attack another individual. Commander Noda is wrong in his assessment."
"So, we need to find the real killer before they pin this on McKay," Stackhouse added. Adjusting the angle on the view screen of the picture of Dr. Mika, he memorized every detail of the lab. "I think we need to see the scene of the crime."
"They're not going to let us in there tonight." Elizabeth stood up and motioned for the others to follow. Seeing Stackhouse's sly smile, her eyes squinted as she looked to him and then Teyla, "What?"
"Major Sheppard already has a plan, ma'am," he whispered, as they walked out of the small room and headed back towards the lobby to wait for the rest of the team.
SG: A
Drugs. He'd never really thought there'd be a day a when he'd actually want to hug Carson for giving him some, but now that the throbbing in his skull had diminished immensely, he was having second thoughts. Slowly sitting up with help, his back against the wall, and Carson on one side and Sheppard on the other, he felt a glimmer of hope. "How long?" he asked quietly.
The major leaned forward, resting his forehead in the palms of his hands with his elbows on his knees; this way if they were being watched the observers couldn't tell what he was saying. "Weir's downstairs with Noda right now. I doubt he's going to just let you go so we're going to need to improvise." Shifting slightly to meet his friend's gaze, he tried to smile encouragingly. "Stackhouse is getting the layout just in case we need to pull an old-fashioned jailbreak."
Rodney shook his head in disbelief, "I think I'm going to need more than a file in a cake, Major."
A real smile lit up Sheppard's face as he grinned over to Beckett, seeing the physician smile in return. If McKay was getting snippy then he must be feeling better. The sound of several sets of feet heading in their direction brought their conversation to a halt.
Noda, Brutus, and another guard stood outside the cell. "It is time for you to leave," the commander demanded, tapping his leg impatiently with the shield controls.
Sheppard and Beckett stood hesitantly to their feet, hating to leave Rodney behind once more. "I'll be fine," he tried to encourage as they turned to look at him. "Maybe I'll come up with a new cake recipe while I'm here."
Knowingly, the three shared a small smile while Sheppard tapped a three-fingered 'w' on his neck as if he was scratching an itch before stepping back into the hallway. The signal to 'wait'.
Rodney nodded, sighing deeply before lying down once more. A small lump underneath his blanket stopped him from getting too comfortable. Shifting so that he wouldn't be seen, he discovered that Carson had slipped him the rest of the blister pack, as well as the bottle of water, and two more power bars. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself the luxury of sleep, knowing his friends were out there.
SG: A
Sometime early in the morning, the building began to shake, waking all its occupants. Tumbling out of bed, Rodney ran to the doorway in an attempt to figure out what was happening. Glancing across the hallway to the man on the other side, he saw the individual prying a panel off the wall, exposing several cables. Removing some sort of homemade knife, the prisoner carefully separated thewires before he sliced through two and tied the opposite lines together, creating a shower of sparks and then total darkness. Moments later a hand roughly grabbed McKay by his good arm. "Come on,"an unknown voice demanded. "We're getting out of here."
TBC
A/N ;) Bwahahaha!