Day 32
Carson needs to take his own advice and get some sleep, but his mind refuses to shut down.
He checks Teyla's eyes with his pen-light. Her pupils constrict then dilate when he flicks the light away. "Hello, luv. I knew ya were in there somewhere. You stay strong, lass. Keep fighting. We'll find a way to fix ya. I promise." Then he moves on to Ford, getting the same reaction from the young man's eyes. Carson sighs, but his heart is happy. As long as there's neural reaction, he has hope.
Hearing and feeling his stomach rumble, Carson heads out to the Control Room. He's found the only way to make sure Dr. Weir continues eating is to grab her anytime he's hungry and make her go to the mess hall with him. So far, she's been very cooperative, worrying Carson even more.
He and McKay take turns babysitting their boss these days. He can see the limited hope in her eyes dwindling every day the power is not restored. Aside from Dr. Weir's physical health, he's quite concerned with her mental state. She's not grieving properly for Major Sheppard or the Stargate itself. Basically they've all been hit with a one-two punch by losing the Major and their only hope for ever returning to Earth.
Worse than that, Carson fears the woman is in a serious case of denial, if not full-blown depression. Both he and McKay think she believes the Major is still alive and can be rescued as soon as the gate is active again. Far be it for Carson to dash her hopes, but he's extremely distressed about what will become of Dr. Weir should the truth be the opposite of what she wants. If, in fact, Major Sheppard is dead, the recovery of his body may be the final weight on her shoulders, effectively crushing her completely.
That's the thought that keeps Carson up at night.
He passes the Three Musketeers, or Stooges, depending on how one looks at them, as they continue arguing about the loss of power. Dr. Grodin, Dr. Zelenka and Dr. McKay have their hands full with the problem at hand, but Carson feels sorry for the Brit and Czech, they have the weight of McKay's ego to contend with as well. McKay refuses to take responsibility for the crises. Carson gives him some credit, he did say turning off the power might not kill the virus; however, they have no way of putting that to a test, since he couldn't reinstate the power after the blackout.
Luckily those two PJ generators are fully functional and don't seem to have a trace of the virus, so Teyla and Lt. Ford should be fine for the time being. Deep down, Carson has no doubt Rodney will eventually solve the problem. The man is a genius after all. Even if he never lets any of them forget it.
Carson can see from the Control Room that Dr. Weir isn't in her office so he turns the other direction, finding her on the balcony over-looking the dormant city. "Dr. Weir?"
She glances over her shoulder at him. "Good afternoon, Carson." She turns to the beautiful vista. Though he misses seeing her easily ready smile, Carson's content with the fact that her features are no longer sunken in, her eyes are bright and alert—if sad—and she seems to have put on a pound or two recently. Almost back to normal. Almost.
"I was on my way down to the mess for lunch, lass. Will you join me?"
She's leaning heavily on the balcony. "I was just thinking of lunch."
"Good then-"
Now she turns to him, tilting her head like a child who wants a favor. "Could we…eat out here, today?"
Carson raises his brows. "You mean, like a picnic? Sure, that sounds lovely."
She smiles a bit at that before turning her attention towards the water. "Good."
Carson quirks his mouth, seeing that she has no plans on leaving that spot in the near future. "How's this then. I'll run down and grab up some food and meet you back here in a few minutes." She nods. "You're not gonna run away from me are you, Dr. Weir?"
She drops her head, looking back at him with a slight grin. "No. I'll stay put."
"Good then. Be right back." Carson shuffles off toward the mess, again passing by the 'Bickerson Trio' only to stop for a moment and interrupt. "Dr. McKay."
"What!"
"I'm on the way to the mess. Would any of you like something to eat?"
McKay lifts his chin and narrows his gaze down his nose. "What's good down there?"
Carson shrugs. "Not much these days. We got some fresh fruit from the Athosian's, but other than that, standards, I suppose."
"Hmm. Yeah. Bring what you can; it'll be good for us to keep working."
Carson catches the eye rolls from Grodin and Zelenka before he heads down the corridor.
He's created a monster, and he's loving every minute of it.
John wakes feeling amazing, and not only because Ashri has taken it upon herself to explore his body to wake him up every day, though that's definitely part of it. He relishes the feel of her fingers dancing over his belly, slowly moving lower. It's when she grips him that he's fully awake and instantly aroused. Ashri gasps, taking her hand away, leaving him groaning at the loss of her touch. Locking his eyes with hers, he maneuvers her hand back to that delicate area.
John's lost track of time since they first made-love and has no idea how many hours or days since then that they've spent naked in each others arms. They'd occasionally stop making-out and petting each other like lust-crazed teenagers long enough to eat, but after a while even food got incorporated into their round-the-clock 'I-want-you-now' party. John's never been this insatiable before and it kind of scares him. But not enough to stop.
Her hand engulfs him and starts to move. It's not long before he's guiding her to his lap, her legs wrapped around him, ankles crossed behind his back and they're locked together, moving in a rhythm all their own. Her face blushes with passion and she glows with her love for him. They rock against each other, burning with unquenchable desire, needing only this place, this time. His excitement turns to rapture, his arms encircling her, crushing her chest against his and pulling her lips in for a devouring kiss.
Her fingertips dig into his scalp as their tongues intertwine, seeking each other out. Her legs tighten around his waist, her body moving in time with his, taking all of him, making him feel invincible. Ashri breaks the kiss, throwing her head back with a gasp, her muscles tensing and fluttering around him. He trails his mouth down her throat, to the concave, where he flicks his tongue making her moan. He starts a slow descent towards her breasts when she lifts his face to catch his eyes.
She rarely closes her eyes when they're like this. Her gaze stays attached to his, sometimes with her hands cupping his face, or moving over his chest, needing the tactile sensation of his skin. It's as if she's afraid he'll disappear.
Ashri smiles as she reaches down, taking his hand and places it against her temple, covering it with her left hand. Then he feels the familiar tingle of her right palm against his temple as it starts to glow. He sees her left hand over his shine as well. It seems to be forever since they've made this kind of contact. Ashri took his request of breaking it to the extreme, actually denying him the feel of her mind on his, teasing him into begging for her thoughts as he might have begged for sex. Only she refused.
And now he knows why.
White-hot her mind latches onto his, not with images, but with emotion, passion, overwhelming desire and pleasure…a feverish touch that sparks him into overdrive. The feelings, the thrill of them together, all of it coming from her in waves of pleasure and she's sharing it with him; it's almost too much to take.
At the same time, she's accepting his thoughts and feelings into her mind, increasing her thrill, feeling his pleasure then mirroring it back to him combined with her own. It's a crazy hall of mirrors as their senses mingle and bounce off each other only to be reflected by each other. John's sure he's either going to go insane or pass out from sheer bliss.
His body shakes, his muscles instantly on fire. Ashri clings to him even as he flips her onto her back, taking control and pushing them faster and harder than ever before. Keeping the connection only spurs on their desire, leaving them groaning and panting, climbing together to the ultimate peak where they both explode as colliding stars. One body. One heart. One mind.
They fall, drifting in the overwhelming joy they've created, locked together as darkness comes for them.
"We don't leave people behind!"
"That's where he was standing when he said it," Elizabeth tells Carson as they sit across from each other on the balcony floor, sharing an impromptu picnic. She's pointing to the spot where John stood that first day, pretty much telling her to get her head out of her ass and pay attention to him…because he knew best. She chuckles lightly. "I was so pissed at him. And I think he was equally pissed with me."
"But you agreed, in the end," Carson says.
She smiles at the memory. "He was…compelling. But I made sure he understood where I was coming from. It seemed to be the very beginning of our strange, symbiotic dynamic. We instinctively knew to trust each other." She shrugs. "Or maybe I'm over analyzing."
"Oh, I don't think so, lass. We've all seen how well you work together for the same goal, even if you both go about it differently."
Elizabeth smirks. "That your polite way of saying we butt heads?"
Carson raises his brows and rocks his head. "Head-butting aside. You and the Major worked well together."
She drops her eyes from his and picks bread crumbs off her pants. "Worked," she sighs. After a few moments, she looks up at Carson again. She shakes her head. "He's coming back, Carson. I don't know how or why I feel this way. But I do. It's very strong. And I don't think I'm going crazy. I simply know he's out there…alive."
Carson pats her knee. "I hope you're right, Dr. Weir. I really do. But-"
"You think I'm crazy."
Carson chuckles and shakes his head. "No. You're hopeful. And there's nothing wrong with that. We all have hope for something. If we didn't, we wouldn't be able to climb out of bed every morning. It doesn't make you crazy."
"But-" she says back at him, raising her brows. "You're afraid I won't be able to handle the disappointment if the time comes."
He looks so full of sympathy and compassion when he matches her gaze. "Aye. I am indeed."
Elizabeth nods. "So am I."