AN: So I said I would be posting the final chapter today... But actually, your great comments have given me some extra (tiny little) ideas I'd like to incorporate in this. Alas, I worked late today and had no time to properly rewrite this chapter -yet. With the long weekend coming up, I would not have been able to post again until tuesday, so I'm going to hand you a compromise here. I'll post the original ending today, and the 'revamped' ending somewhere next week.
One more little side note: Our favourite Scottish physician has a guest appearance in this part, but I couldn't quite get the accent down right in writing. If anyone has any pointers, that would be very helpful...
A major thank you goes to all the people who have reviewed. You guys are great! You sparked my imagination into overdrive...
Happy Easter!
4. Day
-
Into my heart's night
Along a narrow way
I groped; and lo! the light,
An infinite land of day.
- Rubaiyat of Rumi
-
"Carson…!"
The voice was soft and scratchy, but unmistakably held the plaintive whining quality of a recovering Rodney McKay.
John grinned from behind the privacy curtain where he was currently hiding, quite content to stay and just listen for a bit.
"Rodney?" The answering burr was as patient as ever, but held just a touch of long-suffering.
"It's yellow!" Rodney complained affronted.
"Huh?" Carson's recent chronic lack of sleep seriously didn't help in figuring out the quirks of brilliant astrophysicists.
"The Jell-O!" Rodney huffed in a 'duh' sort of way.
"Aye, so what of it?" Carson sighed.
"Hello! Deadly allergic to lemons, here… Did the word anaphylactic shock escape your voodoo medicine text books?" John just could imagine the way the scientist would be puffing himself up, crossing his arms and glaring heartily at the hapless doctor.
"Ouch…" The soft moan caught John off guard, and he nearly stepped around the privacy curtain.
"Easy, lad. That arm's still on the mend. You might wish to think twice about crossing yer arms any time soon." Carson gently admonished, undoubtedly now hovering over the pissed-of scientist, fussing for all his worth and secretly happy as a clam to have his least accommodating patient safely back under his watchful eye.
Rodney grumbled something unintelligible.
Carson carried on imperturbable: "Besides, yellow Jell-O does nae have any kind of citrus fer ingredient, so it'll be quite safe fer you to enjoy."
"Enjoy! Carson, I think I could die of a psychosomatic reaction to thinking I'm eating something citrus-related!" Rodney whined in his most petulant voice.
A sigh indicated the doctor's defeat. "Aye, Rodney. In your unique case, that would definitely be a possibility… I'll get you some other Jell-O."
"Not the green one!" Rodney voiced quickly.
"Huh? Wha's wrong with the green ones?" Carson asked bemusedly.
"Green's a mixture of yellow and blue, classic colour theory." Rodney stated confidently; "No yellow, not even if it's sneakily diluted with blue."
Another sigh. "Fine, no green either. Nurse?"
"Oh, Carson." Rodney smoothly intersected. "No blue either."
John chuckled inaudibly from behind the screen, thoroughly amused by the whole situation.
"Blue has nae got yellow in it, does it?" Carson ventured tentatively.
"Of course not," Rodney huffed, "but it strongly reminds me of radioactive waste products, and I'd prefer to keep my virility intact."
A badly disguised female snort told John the bidden nurse was now following the conversion as well.
It was a testament to how much Carson had been affected by Rodney's 'death' earlier that he didn't loose his already sorely tried patience. "No problem, lad, we'll just go fer some other dessert… without any citrus, of course. Nurse, if you'd check with the commissary fer …?"
"I like the red." Rodney cut him off again.
"Excuse me, Rodney?" Carson was a bit slow on the uptake. Of course, two days of trying to keep up with Atlantis' most demanding patient explained a lot.
"Red Jell-O is nice." Rodney said matter-of-factly.
The doctor's deep bone-weary sigh told John that Rodney was very likely to be discharged very soon.
Yep, everything was slowly getting back to normal, or -well- at least as normal as things went in the Pegasus galaxy.
John couldn't keep his merriment to himself much longer and sneaked quietly back into the hallway, where he had a barely controlled fit of laughter. It wasn't even that funny, definitely not by 'Rodney standards', but it just felt incredibly good to be able to laugh again. And he so he laughed. Laughed all the worries and sadness away. Laughed until his sides ached and he was desperately gasping for breath. Only then did he calm down, and did his brain start functioning properly again.
With a silly grin still plastered on his face, John went to his quarters and retrieved a bright red blanket. He patted it affectionately, like a good luck charm at a job well done, and carried it with him through the sun-lit corridors of Atlantis all the way through to a desolate balcony with two loungers and an alien pot plant.
There would be a beautiful sunset this evening, and he was planning on enjoying every moment of it with his brother...