Authors/Notes: Okay, another long wait for this update, but at last it is here. Give a big hand to the lovely ElementalSparky who gave up some of her free time, in between studying and Atlantis watching to BETA this chapter for me. So you all got to thank her, cause without her, this wouldn't be here:) Chapter 7 is going to be an extremely long chapter, and i am only half way through writting it out, so bear with me please. Also, the chapter title refers to a friendship, not the actual fic:)
Chapter 6-Is it the End?
John and Rodney had never been happier to step through the Stargate and find themselves back in Atlantis. Even with the predicament of not wearing any clothes, the site of Atlantis was enough for them not to care for the time being.
"John, Rodney," greeted Elizabeth as she met them in the Gateroom.
"Elizabeth," replied John weakly.
Elizabeth immediately took notice of John's fragile state and her relief turned to concern as she spotted the battered leg that was dripping blood onto the floor.
"Lieutenant what happened?" questioned Elizabeth concerned.
"We don't know, we arrived and found them both with a similar type of injury," answered Ford nodding to Rodney's arm.
"Look not to cut…this little reunion short but…I kinda need to see Beckett…" John interrupted, as he began to sway.
"Of course, can you get down to the infirmary on your own?" asked Elizabeth realising that the Major must be seriously injured if he was willing to go see Beckett on his own accord.
John couldn't answer as his vision swam in front of his eyes before everything went black and he was falling. Elizabeth managed to catch John before he hit the floor and with the help of Teyla and Ford, they eased him the rest of the way down.
Pressing her radio Elizabeth said, "We need a medical team in the Gateroom ASAP!"
Letting go of her radio, she looked at John's unconscious face. It was the same John that she had sent out only three days ago. The same cheeky person, she knew would end up in more trouble than anyone else. But then she reason, he also got himself out of that trouble.
Elizabeth looked up as the sound of wheels was heard on the hard floor and the medical team came rushing in.
"Where's Carson?" asked Elizabeth, as the nurses knelt down.
"He's still with Sergeant Bates, Doctor Weir," answered one of the nurses.
"Bates, why what happened to him?" asked Rodney, wincing as someone pulled on his arm.
"He was attacked by a Wraith," replied Elizabeth.
Paling slightly, Rodney responded, "A Wraith?"
The others just nodded, as John was lifted onto the gurney and wheeled out whilst Rodney was ushered out with a bandage around his arm for the time being.
Elizabeth followed the two injured men down to the infirmary, after dismissing Ford and Teyla. Entering the infirmary she saw Rodney-now thankfully dressed in some hospital scrubs-sitting on a bed staring at the children that were still sleeping peacefully.
Going over she place a hand on his shoulder, "Rodney?"
"Is that…I mean…that is to say they…uh…look familiar," fumbled Rodney, his voice quiet.
"They are you, well one of them is. The five year old you to be precise, we found them…you on the planet under the rubble," explained Elizabeth.
"F-Five?" replied Rodney.
He remembered being five, his step mum wasn't the nicest of women. She didn't have time for him, always going out with his dad. He had basically had to fend for himself ever since his dad had remarried. His sister had also not been around when he was five, out living her own life.
"Rodney!" exclaimed Elizabeth concerned.
Shaking of his memories, Rodney replied, "What?"
"I've been trying to get your attention for five minutes. Are you alright?" questioned Elizabeth.
"Yes fine," answered Rodney bluntly, his eyes had not strayed away from the two children.
Realizing what he was looking at Elizabeth smiled softly and said, "I'm sure once he wakes you can talk to him,"
"Talk to him…me! No," replied Rodney strongly.
"No?" repeated Elizabeth.
"No. Once Carson has seen my arm I'm going to go back to my lab. God knows what Radek has done whilst I've been…unconscious," Rodney insisted.
"Rodney I'm sure speaking to your younger self won't take five minutes of you time," reasoned Elizabeth.
She had thought she had heard wrong at first, but the second time he turned it down it worried her.
"No!" insisted Rodney.
"Okay, but the offer is there," replied Elizabeth calmly.
There was no point trying to force someone to do something they didn't want to do. Especially someone as stubborn as Rodney, who would just come up with more excuses if pushed in to a situation he did not feel comfortable with, once such as his current predicament. Rodney just fell silent after that. He was trying to not look at himself as a five year old. But he couldn't really help it; he felt weird, having two versions of himself was disturbing him.
Off to the right hand side, the doors leading off to the surgery opened and several nurses wheeled out Sergeant Bates and wheeled him to an empty bed.
Carson followed out two minutes later, slipping on his white lab coat. He stopped at the site of two more patients.
"What happened this time?" questioned Carson incredulously.
"A big snake attacked us," answered Rodney.
Carson glanced over to the other bed and saw several of his nurses cleaning up a wound on John's leg. Obviously John was more seriously injured than Rodney, so Carson made his way over to John first.
Checking over the wound, Carson grew worried at the depth of it. He would need to clean it up further before he made a final assessment, but the state it was in concerned him. The depth of the wound looked as though it had damaged the muscle.
"Get an IV with fluids set up and get some antibiotics running through his system. Once he wakes I will re-asses his leg and see how much pain medication he needs," instructed Carson.
Pulling off the latex gloves and slipping on a clean pair Carson went over to Rodney. Rodney just sat silently as he held his bloodied arm out as Carson checked it over, only wincing when it was twisted certain ways.
"Well the wound isn't as deep as the Majors, and you may be able to get away with stitches. But I'll keep you in over night," explained Carson, placing the bandage back on top.
"No," replied Rodney.
"Excuse me?" asked Carson.
"I mean my arm is fine right, just do what you normally do then I'll go back to my lab to work," responded Rodney.
"I canna let you do that Rodney," replied Carson, "You don't know if there will be side effects to the bite."
"There won't be,"
"Oh and you know that for a fact do ya?"
"If there was, wouldn't we be experiencing them now," pointed out Rodney.
"Aye maybe but you might not, which is why I'm keeping you here," replied Carson frowning, "Why you making such a big deal outta this Rodney?"
Rolling his eyes Rodney snapped, "I'm not, I just think I could be doing other things in my lab."
"Rodney you know Carson is right, you should stay here," Elizabeth stated.
"Look I'll take what ever voodoo junk Carson gives me, but I would prefer to stay in my lab," insisted Rodney, his voice rising in tone as he spoke.
Sighing Carson replied, "Okay Rodney I'll release you to your quarters only on one condition. You are to come back in two days time so I can check your arm over."
"Okay," agreed Rodney. Anything to get out of here, he added silently.
With that settled Carson brought over a tray with several stitches on and the instruments he would need. Taking the bandage off Rodney's arm, he began to clean the wound up. Once the wound was clean Carson numbed the arm with a local anaesthetic before stitching it up, once he finished the stitches he wrapped another clean bandage around the arm.
"There its done, if there is any change, it becomes itchy or hot come straight back," instructed Carson.
"I will, can I go?" asked Rodney.
"Yes go," answered Elizabeth.
Getting down from the bed, Rodney all but ran out of the infirmary and he totally missed the concerned looks on Carson and Elizabeth's face.
3 Days later
"How are you feeling today Major?" asked Carson.
"Better thanks, ready for leaving though," answered John.
It had been three days since John had woken up. At first seeing his younger self in a bed had freaked him out, but he had gotten use to it; he just hadn't talked to himself yet, which was mostly due to the fact that he had been pumped up on pain medication for the last two days, which had made him sleep for most of that time. When he was awake, he had caught snippets of conversation between his younger self and the five-year-old Rodney and realized they bickered as much as himself and Rodney did.
"Well we shall see how you feel later on, I don't want you putting any unnecessary strain on your leg just yet," replied Carson, starting to take the bandage off.
Wincing as the bandage pulled on his leg John questioned, "How's Rodney?"
"I haven't seen him, Major and I'm planning on dragging him back here once I'm finished with you," responded Carson, putting the bandage in the waste.
The wound on John's leg was in a zigzag shape down his calf, right along the side of his muscle. It held over 17 stitches, and glue to hold the wound closed.
"Wasn't he meant to be here yesterday?" asked John laying his head back so he didn't have to look at his leg. He wasn't squeamish as such; several years in the military had given him a high tolerance of blood and gore. It was the fact that it was him that was injured or bleeding.
"Aye he was supposed to. Tell me does this hurt?" Carson enquired, as he gently eased John's leg into a bent position.
"No, not really," answered John feeling the muscle pull tight.
Easing the Major's leg back down, Carson smiled, "That is good, there doesn't seem to be much long term damage to your calf muscle but it may be weak for a while."
"Nothing some morning runs can't sort out," murmured John.
"That's exactly what I don't want you doing Major! You are to take it slow and by that I mean only walking to your quarters and Mess Hall when I release you," explained Carson sternly.
"Okay, okay," responded John giving in before he could get into a shouting match with the doctor.
"Good, I'll put another bandage on it for now," replied Carson.
Grabbing another clean bandage Carson began to re-bandage the Major's leg. Once it was sufficiently wrapped up Carson fastened it down with tape.
"There all done, now if you'd excuse me Major, I have a scientist to track down."
"Wait, let me go find him. I need to get outta this bed anyway," suggested John, already sitting forward.
"I don't think that's wise Major, especially if he's collapsed," put in Carson.
"Look I have my radio with me," insisted John.
Carson seemed to be thinking it over before he replied, "Very well then, but you're to take it easy."
John just waved a hand as he got to his feet, gingerly putting weight on his injured leg. He winced as pain raced up the injured limb causing him to sit back down. He was surprised when a pair of crutches were handed to him. Smiling his thanks John took the crutches and stood up again.
"Cheers Doc," thanked John, hobbling out of the infirmary.
"Take it easy!" called Carson.
John hobbled down the corridors towards Rodney's lab; he avoided most of the routes that the military personnel would take. After all most of them had never really seen there CO hurt, or in any kind of weakened state. Rounding the corner John let out a sigh as Rodney's lab came into view. Entering the lab John was surprised to find everyone working silently, which was unusual in itself as Rodney would normally be barking out instructions to his staff.
Spotting Zelenka, John went over and asked, "Hey Doc, is McKay around?"
"No he left," answered Zelenka looking up.
"Did he say where he was going?"
"Ah something about sleep, so his quarters."
"Thanks."
Turning around John hobbled out of the lab and headed back down the corridor, turned left and headed to Rodney's quarters. By the time he reached the door he had worked up a sweat and his leg was beginning to hurt him. He pressed the console to let Rodney know he was outside the door and then waited.
He was shocked when Rodney, looking annoyed opened his door.
"Major?" asked Rodney.
"McKay," replied John.
"What do you want?" questioned Rodney bluntly.
"Beckett was wondering why you didn't return yesterday," John informed.
"Are them children still there?" Rodney seethed, spitting the word 'children' out with venom.
Frowning John answered, "Yes they are still asleep at the moment. From what Carson tells me they have been through quite a lot."
"Then I'm not going back," retorted Rodney.
Leaving his quarters Rodney pushed past John strode down the corridor as fast as he could heading out on to the balcony which was empty at the moment. He hoped that John wouldn't follow him.
John caught up with him ten minutes later and to say he was angry would have been an understatement.
"What the hell is that meant to mean McKay?" questioned John.
"Nothing Major, leave me be," retorted Rodney.
"No, you acted as though you didn't care about them, about yourself!" pointed out John scowling.
"Maybe I don't!" snapped Rodney.
He could feel his anger seeping through the wall he had trapped it in when he had first been told his five-year-old self had turned up.
"I don't believe that for a second McKay, you maybe an arrogant know-it-all at times, but you've never not cared about your self!" exclaimed John haughtily.
He doesn't understand, how can he, thought Rodney, as he felt his hands shaking from anger, he probably grew up in the perfect house, with the perfect family and the perfect friends. He doesn't need to know about my past, no one does. And the Major has no right to pry just take some breaths you'll be fine.
"MCKAY!" shouted John.
The shout broke the wall holding Rodney's fury in, turning around with anger blazing in his eyes, he shouted back, "YOU'RE RIGHT MAJOR HOW CAN I NOT GIVE A DAMN! THE TRUTH IS YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND A THING ABOUT ME OR THAT KID! SO KEEP YOUR OPINIONS TO YOUR SELF AND GET LOST!"
Rodney stormed towards the door intent on leaving, but was stopped by John grabbing onto his uninjured arm.
"What happened Rodney?" asked John, his voice calm.
Rodney wanted to shout, wanted to scream at him to tell him exactly what had happened but he couldn't. The calmness in John's voice made him feel ashamed at his out burst. He knew he owed the man an apology but he couldn't form the words to speak.
Pulling his arm free from the grasp he turned away from John, before leaving him standing there on the balcony alone.
John just let Rodney leave he couldn't figure the man out half the time. But this time, this time he had seen a very raw, very emotional Rodney and that concerned him. John pushed himself away from the wall and hobbled over to the balcony, leaning the crutches to the side, he leant on the edge, letting the calmness of the sea relax him.
What happened, that one thought ran round his head, he had expected some sort of sarcastic remark not the hurt and defeated look he had seen. The look was so unbecoming of Rodney that it worried John a lot more than any complaint the man could ever make.
Letting out a sigh John looked straight down, at the city it's self. He had never thought he would ever see anything so magnificent. Nor did he expect to be leading a team to visit different planets. He knew each member of his team personally, knew their moods and knew when to push them and when not to. Rodney had said a lot in the small time John had known him, but never something so deep and personal. John was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he never saw the door open again, Elizabeth coming out.
"John?" spoke Elizabeth, going over to him.
Turning to his right John replied, "Elizabeth what can I do for you?"
"Carson asked me to look for you, apparently Rodney turned up ten minutes ago in the infirmary, and got his arm sorted out," answered Elizabeth smiling, "What ever you said to him, must have made him go back."
"How much of his past do you know?" asked John, changing the subject completely.
Sighing Elizabeth replied, "Not much John, other than what his file says. But you have to realize that Rodney is an extremely private person, despite all the arrogance he has. Why are you asking John?"
"Oh you know get to know him better," answered John quickly, shrugging it off.
Elizabeth just stared at him disbelieving of what he had just said to her, "Well I suggest you talk to him about it then."
"You know that's a brilliant idea, if you'll excuse me," replied John, grabbing the crutches.
He only made it to the door when Elizabeth called over, "John, take it easy."
He just nodded, not sure if she meant himself or to take it easy on Rodney. Hobbling down the corridor he let the sound of the everyday hustle and bustle of Atlantis wash over him. Turning the bend John spotted Rodney entering an empty room. As quietly as he could John pushed himself down the corridor and into the room, thinking the door closed as he entered.
Rodney spun around when he heard the door close and he glared at the person, standing in the room.
"Major."
"Look McKay about earlier-" began John only to be interrupted.
"Forget about it," interrupted Rodney, turning back to the console he was working on.
Sighing John retorted, "Of course if we pretend it didn't happen then obviously it didn't!"
"What is it with you and trying to figure out everyone?" snapped Rodney.
"Well when one of my team mates doesn't seem to be handling a situation then it's my job to help them," replied John, trying to keep calm.
Spinning around Rodney glared at him and retorted coldly, "I suggest you leave Major, I am not military, you can not order me to tell you anything. Leave me be!"
"I'm not going to order you McKay, my God I came here as a friend. But you…" trailed off John just shaking his head before continuing, "Forget it McKay, you obviously are not interested in any kind of friendship. Have a nice life!"
With that John turned around and left the room, he was half hoping Rodney would have called him back for an apology. But no sounds came from the room at all. John made his way back down the corridor towards the infirmary. All the hobbling around Atlantis had caused pain to flare up in his leg.
Rodney just stood there shocked as John left him on his own. He was thrown by the Major's reaction. He had never seen John act like that, he wondered if he had indirectly struck a nerve. Why do I care so much? He speculated. Sure he had driven people away before, but it never seemed to matter. This time though, this time he knew he had lost a friendship of one of the most respected people.
"Damn it!" exclaimed Rodney loudly, the anger evident in his stance.
Turning back to what he was working on, Rodney buried himself in the work forgetting about the world around him for the time being.
Infirmary
John let out a sigh of relief when he finally leant back against the pillows on the infirmary bed. He had never bee more please to see the infirmary of Carson.
"Are you in much pain Major?" asked Carson.
"Yeah…a bit," admitted John, feeling drained from the argument earlier, he didn't have the energy to deny anything.
Grabbing hold of the smallest dosage of morphine, Carson injected it into the Majors arm.
"There that should take the edge off it for a while, just rest," explained Carson, leaving John to his rest.
John just nodded and let the pain medication work around his system. He couldn't help but think that the strange friendship that he had forged with Rodney was now pretty much over for good.
Reviewers:-
elemental-sparky: Yes calling Bates your hero, is kinda werid. /walks of whistling to her self at the spiked drink comment/weren't me! Two months until the next chapter of your fic, i think i would die of suspension. Thank you fro the review and for BETA'ing it means a lot.:)
parisindy: Thank you, glad you liked it. Thank you for the review.
puddles1311: heehee thanks and what can i say i learnt from the best person, sparky:P Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the review.
Rachel Kirk: Hey you read it, i had to lock my self in the bedroom and not look at my posters when i wrote it, i could not stop blushing:P heehee thanks for the review:)
Reviewer: Thank you glad you liked it, and i know how hard it is to find decent fics out there when you first join this site. Thank you for the review.