Usual disclaimer! Not mine :( never will be :( :( oh well. Rating for some bad-ish words. Not really bad though just a intsy wincy bit bad.
Dr Weir, Major Sheppard, Dr Beckett, Lt. Ford, Teyla and Dr Heightmeyer all sat around the briefing table discussing their subject. The one and only Dr Rodney McKay, various arguments were going around each having its own flaws.
"Would you like to tell me from the beginning what happened on your latest mission, from what I can gather the locals were a friendly race, how did this happen?" Asked Elizabeth, being the leader of the expedition she had to be in control of each and every situation. Having her lead scientist wiped of his memory and regressed to a teenager did not account for being in control. Major Sheppard gave the nod to Ford to begin recounting the events that lead to their predicament.
"Ma'am the locals were a friendly race, they did nothing to threaten us whilst on the planet. Dr McKay was talking to one of their scientists while myself and Major Sheppard were near by discussing trading of goods. We deemed there was no threat ma'am."
"McKay don't go far and play nice with the other kids, I don't want to have to haul your ass back to the gate because you got over excited about one of your gadgets." Said the Major in a tone that stemmed from one too many missions spent running back to gate or jumper while he couldn't have been dawdling in the scenery taking in the only land he was likely to get close to other than the mainland. He loved flying and was learning to adapt to living on a floating city but sometimes he just missed good old mud under his feet.
"Yes Major, your oh so complimentary opinion of my social qualities leave a lot to be desired considering your usually the one who has me, a scientist running for my life on a regular basis when you decide to piss off the natives. I'm surprised I'm not continually in the infirmary due to various incidents…"
"Enough McKay, I get the point. Just keep safe ok?" Major Sheppard and Dr McKay went through the usual banter before actually getting down to the point that the Major was just looking out for his scientist and McKay actually appreciated it.
"He was gone around 40 minutes, came back talking a mile a minute about a device he found that had some strange energy reading and he wanted to come back with full diagnostic equipment and maybe one of the linguists to translate some of the writing on the actual device itself." Put in Major Sheppard.
"Did he have any ideas on what this device was at all?" Dr Weir asked curiously.
"I believe Dr McKay knew very little of it due to the short time he had spent with the device, so Major Sheppard ordered us to go down to the cave where it was situated…" Began Teyla only to be interrupted by Sheppard,
"Look, this is all in the mission reports, can we not discuss how we get McKay back to his older self before its too late?" He said hotly.
"Major, if I dinnae know what did this to him I have little or no chance of actually helping him." Said Carson, who had until then, remained quiet.
"Lets jump forward to when the Dr. was turned into a 17 year old, shall we….." Dr Weir was interrupted as Rodney walked into the briefing room leaning heavily on his crutches. All eyes on him he began to shift nervously,
"Um, hey, I thought since your all talking about me I should at least be here, I mean it is me, I'd like to be involved, I don't know who you all are but if I really am 37 then I'd like to think I am still intelligent enough to, you know, be erm.. Involved." He tapered off when he realised Major Sheppard was smirking and that still, no one had spoken.
"Take a seat." Finally Major Sheppard said gesturing to the space next to him.
"Thanks Ja….John." Said Rodney with a point to John on the almost mistake, index finger stretched out, thumb bent and the rest of his finger curled into his palm. It was such a McKay mannerism Elizabeth found herself fascinated by him. He was shorter, and his facial features were less defined, he seemed to have the most unruly hair known to man, unlike the Major's which was just odd and unnatural Rodney's seemed almost planned in its chaos, if the Major's was gravity in its consistency then Rodney's was the chaos theory in the only constant being…chaos. His clothes hung loose on him, he was offered scrubs to wear but the thought of wearing pyjama's around the halls of Atlantis did not amuse him. So he stood there in Rodney's civvies. All eyes now on her, she did not realise she had been staring and quickly restarted the meeting.
"Ok, Rodney we were just discussing what happened on the planet that lead to this predicament. Can you shed any light on anything?"
"The last thing I remember is being at home, then I woke up in a field, my ankle hurt like hell, so did my head. Everything was pretty jumbled up, there running, definitely running. I really don't remember all that much, at all." He said quickly with an uneasy nervousness, his eyes darted from person to person as he spoke , finally resting on the table top as he tapered off. Carson's gaze shifted to meet John's before Elizabeth spoke,
"Its ok, you don't have to remember it all now its fine." Elizabeth said cautiously.
"Do you remember how you broke your ankle Rodney?" Asked Heightmeyer. Just as he was about to answer John stepped in.
"He doesn't remember." He said with a smirk.
"Oh I so do. The details are just a little sketchy is all." Replied Rodney.
"You don't remember"
"I do"
"Do not"
"Do too"
"Do not!
"GENTLEMEN PLEASE!" Elizabeth intervened. "thank you, if you have finished the details of Rodney's broken ankle, whether he remembers getting it or not"
"………..Which I do"
"………….Or don't." Rodney first, then John added,
"Whether or not he remembers getting it," she punctuated the last line with a look towards the both of them who at least had the grace to know when to shut-up , "is not of concern here. Now Rodney I know this is hard for you, not knowing anyone, but at your age, as bright as I assume you are, are still not the Rodney we know. Now we need him back, and we need to know what happened on the planet which lead to your situation now. This is what we were discussing before you joined us. I would like to carry on, what happened after your team went to investigate the device Major?"
"So McKay what do think it does?" Asked John as they were walking to the ruins.
"It could be an ancient power source. There is evidence from the architecture in the city that ancients may have populated these areas. It seems well ahead of the culture now living here. It would be interesting to see if any of them have the ancient gene. I don't know whether they are actual descendants of the ancients or they may just be regular settlers." "
So McKay, what do think it does?" At this McKay stopped walking and turned on the Major.
"You are the most annoying man I have ever met! " John gave his best Who Me? Look. "and yes you, don't look at me like that you ask a question and I answer it! Then you just completely ignore everything I say! What's the point in asking in the first place!" McKay practically shouted, causing Teyla and Ford who were scouting ahead to turn and look back at the exchange.
"Are you alright McKay? You seem a little edgy today. Judging by that out burst, that I am willing to ignore, you seem, I don't know more arsey than usual." John asked lightly but the concern was evident in his voice.
"ARSEY? Is that even a word Major? And no I'm not being 'arsey' I think your just being especially annoying today. So if you don't mind I'm going to go on ahead, I'll see you at the ruins, I'm sure you can find you way, it is only after all a ten minute walk!" And with that he turned on his heel and stormed off. Teyla had dropped back to talk with John, as Ford scouted ahead alone.
"I think there is something bothering Dr McKay, he does not seem himself." Teyla said gently.
"I agree with you Teyla, but he really doesn't want to talk about it. I'll catch up with him later and have a chat." He said, eyes never leaving the direction Rodney had gone. He knew there was something wrong but really couldn't guess what. He dropped into step with Teyla as they caught up with Ford, it was only a short walk to the caves so John assumed McKay had already arrived. The planet was deemed safe earlier on and John had no objection to letting McKay cool off before he went and interrupted an intense study of the artefact. He ordered Ford and Teyla to stand guard outside while he went in to chat the irreverent scientist. The device was held in a cave at the end of a narrow tunnel only really wide enough for one person to walk down, it had a creepy feeling John decided and as he was around five meters from the cave entrance he heard an intense scream that sounded a lot like McKay.
"Ford, Teyla! I need you back here now!" John shouted. As he entered the cave he saw McKay in a heap by the device. He rushed over to where his friend lay and turned him over. There was no question it was McKay, but he was nothing more than a teenager. Checking hi pulse he found it strong if a little fast and his breathing regular, he had cut on his temple from where he must of fell though which had John concerned concussion but had no time to dwell as Teyla and Ford rushed in. Ford's eyes went wide as he saw McKay and Teyla looked just as shocked.
"What happened, sir?" Asked Ford.
"Good question" Was the only reply he got. Wondering what could of happened himself, John scouted the surrounding area, a quick look from the device to McKay lead him to think that touching it maybe wasn't such a good idea. "We can send a team back, we need to get him to Atlantis, now."
"It wasn't until we were almost at the Stargate he began to stir." Major Sheppard supplied.
"I don't remember any of it. I remember you telling me to stay calm at that all would be explained. My ankle hurt and my head hurt and I really couldn't concentrate. I thought it was a joke cooked up by Tommy. I was amused at first because it looked like he'd put a lot of effort into it, but jokes never lasted this long before." Rodney put in.
"He was pretty out of it, kinda mumbling, its understandable he doesn't remember breaking his ankle"
"…….I"
"OK, I think we can call it time for this meeting ladies and gentlemen." Dr Weir said quickly before the argument could get started again. "we'll send a team back to the planet to study the device and meanwhile, if the members of your team would like to show you around the base I have no problem with that." Elizabeth said warmly. "Dismissed." At that everybody filed out of the room and left her alone to get her thoughts in order over the whole situation.