DISCLAIMER: I do not own this show, or these characters; I just borrow them.
Weathering the Storm Part 18
It had been two weeks since the destructive storm swept across the planet and nearly destroyed the city. While the repairs were coming along nicely, they were not coming along as quickly as the scientists would have liked. For safety reasons many of the labs were the last places on the list to be fixed up, and the scientists were going stir crazy without their toys to play with; once the most hazardous repairs were finished in the city, the military then turned their sights on the mainland and getting the Athosians home.
Many of the scientists sent reports to Dr. Weir stating that their labs were crucial and needed to be fixed as soon as possible. Often the reports were delivered by the offended scientist. Dr. Weir shuddered as she thought of the impromptu meeting with Dr. Kavanagh, but that was nothing compared to the continual whining and complaining of one Dr. Rodney McKay. Not only was Rodney complaining to Elizabeth about his lab, he seemed to be spending his added free time bickering much more so then usual with Major Sheppard. Therefore Dr. Weir was ecstatic to learn that Dr. Brendan Gaul had found an Ancient satellite within a days travel by jumper. Believing that Dr. Gaul should get to go on the trip to see the satellite that he discovered out in deep space, and knowing that she could use a break from the bickering 'children' she decided that she should get them out of her hair…I mean I should let Dr. Gaul go explore the satellite and he does need someone to drive the jumper, she reasoned with herself.
Once Major Sheppard radioed in to ask for permission to depart, Dr. Weir breathed a sigh of relief. She was grateful for the time this would give her to relax from the issues the military leader and the brilliant scientist were causing her. She briefly thought about the two additional scientists on the trip and felt sorry for them as they had to be stuck in a small jumper with the two 'children' for 15 hours both ways. If they survive their ordeal they both deserve a metal, Dr. Weir thought ironically. She did not realize at the time how much she would regret that thought later.
After close to fifteen hours of freedom from the childish dynamic duo, Major Sheppard finally radioed in to mention that they had reached the satellite. They went on to tell her that they wanted to travel to a nearby planet to check out a thousand year old distress signal from a Wraith ship. She did not like the idea, but she did agree that it would be smarter to check out the planet now as they were there. However she started to have a bad feeling with the whole situation when both John and Rodney agreed that they should check out the planet. They never agreed on much of anything, and she wondered if hell froze over. Despite her gut feeling that something would go wrong, she gave her permission to check out the planet with the order that they call her back within three hours. Within the next hour that bad feeling continued to grow in the pit of her stomach and so she called Aiden into her office in order to put a team on stand-by just in case something was to go wrong.
Aiden could see the troubled look on Dr. Weir's face, and wanting to make sure that his teammates and the other two scientists would be okay if there was trouble he did not think twice about getting a team ready for a rescue mission. However when Elizabeth tried to send them out before the three hour deadline for the radio call he wondered about what was going on. "They're not even overdue yet."
The worry and anxiety was clear on the leader's face as she stated, "It doesn't matter. Call it intuition, paranoia, or we can just call it a drill. Either way I want you to go now." There had been so much pain and death since the beginning of this mission to the Pegasus galaxy and she did not want to lose anymore if it could be helped. Her gut instinct was telling her that if nothing was done now, then the whole team would not make it. In many of the deadly situations, she was not in the position to help. This worry and her thoughts that she could make a difference here made her know that this rescue mission must leave, and leave now.
Teyla could tell that Dr. Weir was nervous about something; respecting Elizabeth and knowing that her friend needed her fears alleviated she stated, "We can always be called back, but if they are in trouble…"
Elizabeth finished Teyla's thought before she herself could, "every moment counts, exactly." The rest of the meeting went quickly, and the second jumper soon left the city in pursuit of the first. Elizabeth hoped that they would be in time, but she still felt only trepidation of whether the Major and the scientists would be okay.
This is bad! Rodney thought as he contemplated about the situation at hand. There was still over an hour until they had to radio in to Atlantis and therefore over 16 hours before the team could get any help for their situation. Rodney looked down at the still partially cocooned and elderly looking Dr. Gaul and back toward the entrance in which Major Sheppard had just bolted out of in pursuit of a Wraith. Yes, this is very bad indeed!
Rodney turned back to his fellow scientist. He noticed the bloody fingerprint indents in Dr. Gaul's chest, and the fact that the thirty year old now looked twice that. The fear and confusion over the current circumstances drove Rodney to looking at ways to try and control the situation that was in front of him. He kneeled down by his coworker and started to work on stopping the blood flow and covering the wound on his chest. As he pressed on the wound, he was able to feel the paper-like skin on Dr. Gaul's chest which was another tell-tale sign about how aged his colleague was. He wandered what else he could do after he cleared away the rest of the web-like matter from Brendan. Rodney really wanted to go make sure that Major Sheppard wasn't getting into his normal trouble; however he was stuck in this chamber helping out a man that was very close to death. As Dr. McKay could not help out his teammate, he vowed to do whatever he could to help the man in front of him.
"Rodney, show me," Dr. Gaul asked wanting to see how much of his life the Wraith took from him.
Rodney was starting to hate his vow to help out Dr. Gaul. He did not think the man should see what he now looked like, but he knew that as a man of science he would want to know the truth if he was in the same position that Brendan was in. Therefore he pulled out the mirror while he swore he would help Dr. Gaul deal with what he saw.
Dr. Gaul gazed at the truth staring back at him, "Oh my God!" He could tell that he would not make it off this planet alive. He was a thirty year old man dieing of old age, and if he was lucky enough to make it back to Atlantis alive his life would be full of arthritic pain and thought of what might have been. He could barely move his extremities and so his life of science and intrigue would be over, and he thought he might prefer actual death then the slow dieing that he could now look forward to.
Rodney saw the shocked look on Brendan's face and tried to alleviate the shock by stating, "I don't know how it works, Brendan. I don't think anybody does. Maybe you haven't really aged." He knew based on what he saw and felt that this was not the truth, but while truth meant everything in science, Rodney was starting to realize that truth was not always the best thing if it would hurt someone. He knew that Brendan was now an old man, but he could not stand to see his fellow scientist give up because of something that he said. "Maybe it doesn't work that way. Look, it's possible that, in time, you could get better. I mean, the important thing is that you're still alive." Please let him at least see the truth in these words, Rodney set out a silent plea to whomever or whatever might be listening.
Rodney felt an odd tugging at his heart. He knew that he was getting too close to Dr. Gaul to keep from feeling anything. He knew that the walls he had built up of bitterness and scathing remarks to keep the world at a distance was starting to crumble. With the walls falling, Rodney felt the pain even more as he knew he couldn't do anything to really help the person in front of him. He kept massaging the doctor's hands to keep the circulation flowing, and hoping it might help Brendan to be able to move them. Wanting to get away from the strange feelings, he stumbled over his words, "Water. You probably need some water."
John gave him an even better excuse to get away from his feelings as he moved his head to the side to talk with Major Sheppard as he radioed in. While he could still hear the rasping breathing of the old man, at least he could now not see the pain and despair in Brendan's eyes. Damn it, the man here is dieing, and the man out there is getting shot at and I can do nothing. Rodney started to berate himself for letting people past his walls. Those walls were built to protect him from pain and loneliness, and here he was hurting because he started to lower them. He quickly looked over to Dr. Gaul and thought about rebuilding his walls up. However he knew that he was probably the last person that Brendan was going to see and the feelings that had already come through the downed wall would not let Rodney go back to being an ass to a dieing man. All Rodney's thoughts went on hold the minute he heard John tell him to give Brendan a gun.
Sheppard was glad to hear the Dr. Gaul was able to move his hand slightly, and fearing that he might not survive the fight with the Wraith he commanded Rodney to put a gun in Brendan's hand. "Just in case I don't make it back. Sheppard out."
"That's comforting, huh? Right …water." Rodney continued giving water to Dr. Gaul as he tried to break the additional tension that now hung over their heads. He thought that John should come back here. Major Sheppard could ensure their safety for the next 12 hours or so until help should arrive. That was assuming at least that Dr. Weir sent out a rescue team within an hour of their not radioing in. He did not care about the jumper, he cared about his coworkers' lives and your own his selfish angel on his shoulder interjected.
While he did want to stay safe, he also wanted to get out and help his teammate, especially after he learned that John almost blew himself up and would not come back here to hold up until help arrived. As long as the Wraith was out there, then he knew that Dr. Gaul was safe here at least from anything not age and health related. But if John died nothing would go as planned; they would not be able to keep the jumper out of the Wraith's hands from here and they were at an even greater chance to not make it if the Wraith came back to his old ship. Therefore if John did not come back here, Rodney thought it was the smartest thing to go help his teammate for all involved. However he knew that he could not leave Dr. Gaul here alone to probably die by himself.
Dr. Gaul noticed that Rodney really wanted to get out and help with the fighting. He was amazed at the changes he saw with this brash scientist, "You wanna get out there and help him, don't you?" Both amazement and pain could be heard in his voice.
Rodney tried to write off the question, "What? Me go up against a Wraith? Are you kidding?" He was being truthful to a point. He really did not want to go fight a Wraith, but he would to help out which was a new feeling for this self-absorbed scientist.
"You do. I can tell. You've changed. You really wanna get out there." Dr. Gaul taunted and after Rodney blew up with a resounding "Shut Up!" Brendan knew he was on the right path. "Don't get me wrong. I'm impressed. You want in the fight. The Rodney McKay I knew would never ..."
Dr. McKay interrupted the tirade not wanting to know what Brendan thought about him before now. He knew it could not be anything good. He knew what most people thought of him and said behind his back, and while he pretended that he did not care his walls took a beating every time. Without his walls up now, Rodney did not think he currently could deal with the truth on top of this crappy situation. "You heard the man. We're staying right here. All right." He then did as John wanted and handed Brendan the gun while stating "Take this, but don't shoot at anything until I tell you to, OK?" Rodney hated this. One man dieing, one man in danger and he could do nothing for either of them.
"Okay," Dr. Gaul replied; however he thought about what he could do with the gun in his hand. He knew that he was dieing, and after an additional conversation with Rodney he could see that Rodney was only staying here from a sense of responsibility and guilt. He felt the pain in his joints and the tightness in his chest as he breathed. He could not let two people that could possibly live, die because he lingered too long. Life as he knew it was over, and so it did not take much thought to do what he knew he had to do. The hardest part of his task was getting his hand and the additional weight to move into the correct position. He struggled to pull the trigger and after a brief sharp pain he was released from the shell that he had become.
Rodney heard the gunshot and knew what had happened. He knew that he shouldn't have given Brendan the gun. He closed his eyes and fought the pain. He turned and walked over to the dead scientist. Rodney reached down and gently closed the eyes that gazed out at the room lifelessly. Rodney then quickly gathered up the weapons and as he rushed out of the chamber he worked on rebuilding the scarred walls that he had earlier opened slightly.
Aiden radioed in to Atlantis to see if Major Sheppard contacted the city and thereby making his trip obsolete. He was dismayed to learn that there had been no radio contact. He did not know why Major Sheppard would not radio in, but he knew that he and his team would do whatever it took to make sure that they got the men back. "We're prepared to do whatever we need to do."
Dr. Weir noticed Dr. Heightmeyer walking towards her office and then calmly stood in the doorway as she waited for the leader of Atlantis to finish up her conversation with Lieutenant Ford. Dr. Weir signaled to the psychologist that she would be with her in a moment as she spoke to Aiden, "You're on the other side of the solar system, Lieutenant. It's gonna be your call."
"Yes, ma'am, it is," Aiden responded and with that the conversation was ended.
"Yes doctor, what can I do for you?" Dr. Weir asked the person in her doorway as she turned her attention back towards her desk and the never ending paperwork that sat there.
Dr. Heightmeyer noticed the attempt of Dr. Weir to tune her out for the most part by pretending to be busy. "You missed our appointment."
"I'm busy and there is currently an emergency at hand," Dr. Weir stated.
"This is Atlantis. When is it ever not busy," Dr, Heightmeyer stated. She noticed Dr. Weir open her mouth to say something else and quickly interjected, "And there is usually one emergency or another. We knew this place would possibly be dangerous when we signed on. That's why I'm here. Let me do my job."
Dr. Weir knew that Dr. Heightmeyer was right. She knew that she had to participate in this mandatory counseling after the incursion of the city. Be the leader, she thought knowing that no one would follow orders if she herself didn't.
Dr. Heightmeyer could see that Dr. Weir was starting to come around to the idea of leaving her office and the radio contact in order to go to the appointment, but she decided to add an extra incentive, "and let your people do their jobs. They know what to do in these situations, and they can always contact you if they need to."
Elizabeth knew that what she heard was true. She stood up and walked out of her office and toward the closest door. As she passed Peter Grodin she requested that he contact her only if needed for the next hour or when they learned that Major Sheppard and his team were safe. While she knew she was doing what she needed to do, she took a deep breath as she walked out of the control room. She was not walking towards her death, but she knew the next hour would be hell on earth.
AN: Thanks to all who reviewed this story, especially the later ones which helped me get back into this story.
Sorry for the slight filler chapter. I am still here and the next chapter or two are outlined—but of course the outline is at home and I wont be for the next week. Btw Aiden should learn about Elizabeth in about two chapters or so. Dr. Heightmeyer and Dr. Beckett soon after, but then many more chapters before John and Rodney do :)