Because it can't be that easy...
DOWN CAME A SPIDER
By TIPPER
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CHAPTER SEVEN: BREAKING THE TENSION
Sheppard watched as Colonel Carter knelt before the stasis chamber, just as so many others had done, her eyes taking in the horrible sight. For a moment, he saw a myriad of emotions cross her face—worry, disgust, anger, fear—before she managed to quell them. Her jaw steeled and her shoulders straightened, and she stopped seeing the man in there. Instead, she only saw the machine.
Her eyes studied it, absorbed the reality of it, and then the eyes narrowed.
Standing, she looked over at the colonel, then past him to the table Zelenka and the others had set up in here. Besides his half-finished game of cards, it was covered in laptops, diagnostic equipment, and various piles of notes and disks.
She turned to face Caldwell and Elizabeth behind her. "My things were supposed to be taken to my quarters, but, if you don't mind, I think I would like to have them brought here."
"Here?" Elizabeth repeated, glancing at Sheppard before returning her gaze to the blonde scientist. "Are you sure?"
Carter nodded. "I told General Landry that I needed to see that thing, and what it was doing to Rodney. I have—but I still don't feel like I have a full picture of it yet." She looked to Zelenka, "Will you allow me access to your files? And I will also need access to the Ancient Database."
"Of course," Zelenka nodded. "Whatever you need."
"Thank you," she said, before turning once more to look at the man inside the chamber. For a moment, her face softened a touch, then she looked to Sheppard. "And, with your permission, Colonel, I would like to have a cot set up in here. I don't plan to leave this room too often, and it will probably just be easier that way. I only have three days, so..." she trailed off, watching him worriedly.
Sheppard didn't reply for a moment, not sure whether he liked the idea or not. He knew she did not really need to ask him, ultimately it was Elizabeth's call, not his, but Carter was doing it out of deference to the fact that he had obviously been spending a lot of time here. He had to appreciate that she was asking him first.
And again...this was Samantha Carter who was asking. It would be idiotic to say no.
Taking in a deep breath, telling himself to stop being so proprietary, he gave a single nod.
She smiled gratefully, then looked to the others, looking specifically to McKay's teammates. Teyla and Ronon gave their nods as well.
"Thank you. Doctor Weir," Carter looked to the leader, "is that okay?"
"Of course," Elizabeth smiled. "Consider it done."
Carter nodded and then moved across to the table. She looked over at Zelenka and Beckett.
"Could you show me what's what?"
In seconds, both Carson and Radek were explaining the set up to a very attentive Carter, and Sheppard found himself slowly backing away.
In moments, he was near the door, standing with Teyla and Ronon. Elizabeth met his gaze, and gave an encouraging nod. Caldwell was looking at Rodney, his face twisted into an angry grimace.
"Well," Elizabeth said finally, speaking quietly to just those four people with her, "let's leave them to it, shall we?"
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Carter slumped forward on the table, shoving the half-eaten breakfast out of her way, wrinkling her nose at the now ice-cold scrambled eggs and hash-browns. She pressed her head against her hands for a moment, then let it go, slumping the rest of the way forward and letting her hot forehead rest against the cool table. After a moment, she tilted it sideways to rest it more comfortably, using her arms as a pillow.
For almost thirty hours now, broken up only by a couple of short naps and bathroom breaks, she had been reading and rereading the data, cross-referencing everything she could think of against both the Database and what McKay had hastily typed before being forced away from his laptop.
She couldn't see it. Zelenka and his team were right—there was no way to shut that thing down, not while it was attached to McKay.
Why, then, was Colonel Sheppard so certain that, not only did Rodney have an idea to save himself...but that Rodney thought she would know what it was?
She let out a huge sigh and pushed up off the table again, lifting her arms high up over her head to stretch her back.
Around her, the monitors and machines kept up a steady beep and flash, the sounds a subtle counterpoint to her own motions.
Rolling her shoulders, she looked at the clock on the monitor, narrowing her eyes as she took in the time.
It was about 11:50 a.m. Atlantian time—she only had a little over a day and a half left before Landry wanted her back.
There was a terrible irony to it. McKay's snide little voice echoed in her head from five years ago: "That's why they call it a deadline." She wanted to pummel him that day, squish his smug face into the lemon chicken and watch him squirm. And now she was killing herself trying to save him.
Standing, she did some stretches then walked over to the doorway. She was still pulling on one arm as she got there to work out a kink when Colonel Sheppard walked in. Her eyebrows lifted and she backed away, letting him enter.
"Taking a break?" he asked softly, moving past her to check on McKay.
She followed him with her eyes, wondering why that simple question had made her feel guilty even knowing he didn't mean it to. She shook her head when he turned to look at her again over his shoulder.
"Just stretching," she said.
He nodded and turned his back to her to look once more at McKay. "No progress I take it?"
She lowered her eyes. "No," she sighed softly, "not yet." She shrugged, watching his back as his shoulders tensed slightly. "I thought...that seeing it might help me make sense of it. See what it was McKay wanted me to see, but all I see is what it's doing to him. I don't know how to stop it."
Sheppard didn't reply. Finally, he turned around fully.
"Look, you need a break. How about a walk? Or, we can head to the gym. Teyla's probably working with some of her people there. She's something to watch."
Carter gave a small smile, glanced at McKay, then nodded. "Actually, maybe getting out of here would help me clear my mind."
Sheppard smiled back, "Then come on." He glanced at the table, and then moved over to scoop up her cold food. "We can also get you some lunch."
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They walked down the halls together, neither saying much. Carter tried to do what she said she needed to do—clear her head—but it kept wandering back to the man inside the stasis chamber. She thought about the two times she had worked with him most closely—wondering how he could have changed so much for these people to care about him like this. He had seemed so callous when she first met him—callous and unfeeling and arrogant beyond belief. The second time they had met, he had redeemed himself in her eyes, somewhat. He had made her laugh, despite how much she had wanted to hate him, and showed himself again to be stunningly brilliant (not as smart as her of course...oh, Sam, knock it off! she chastised herself), and deep down...showed himself to be very human.
An artist, he had called her. And he had admitted to being jealous of her...her ability to come up with crazy ideas...
She snorted a laugh, and Sheppard glanced at her. She blushed slightly, shaking her head.
"Nothing," she said.
He just grunted, turning a corner. It looked as if they were walking towards a wall, but, as they reached it, the whole thing opened up, revealing a massive balcony.
"Oh," she breathed out, walking out onto the balcony with the colonel. Stepping forward, she reached the handrail and gripped it, leaning over the lip to stare down at the City splayed out below. She could see the Daedalus from here, sitting on the pier off to her left, looking oddly small. Hints of movement around it were visible—it was being prepared for the return trip. Off along other piers, she caught sight of other movement. Before her, the Central Tower gleamed in the bright sunlight, its balconies and windows glittering. She frowned momentarily, looking up at it.
"Hunh," she said.
"What?"
"I thought...strangely, I thought we were still in the Central Tower."
Sheppard gave a small laugh, "I know, disconcerting, isn't it? The transporters are good at throwing you off that way. No, we're on the southwest pier."
"Oh."
He tilted his head at her, "You really haven't been out of that room, have you?"
She gave another laugh, "No. No, I haven't."
His eyebrows lifted, and he leaned forward on the balcony rail next to her. "It's funny," he said, "I wasn't actually expecting..." He looked at her, "I didn't think you actually cared about him that much."
She shrugged. "There was a time I would have agreed with you."
"Carson said you hated him once."
She nodded, "I did. His arrogance nearly lost me a friend of mine." She looked over towards a different pier, "But...then he turned out not to be as...horrible as I thought. I didn't want to forgive him, but," she grimaced a little, "bastard managed to make me laugh."
Sheppard smirked, "Yeah. That arrogance of his...can't tell you how many problems it's caused. Some funny, some..." his eyes narrowed slightly, "not so funny." He took in a quick breath, then smiled again, "You know, Teyla spends half of our meetings off world trying to smooth feathers he's ruffled." He laughed suddenly, "On the last mission we went on, he called the head scientist, and I'm quoting here, 'a mountainous pile of moronic jelly, jiggling with pointlessness.' Then went on to ask the man if he was always that stupid, or just making a special effort that day." He raised his eyebrows at her, then burst out laughing. "And that was one of his milder insults!"
Carter smiled as well, looking out at the water in the distance. "Probably not the best way to make friends."
"No, no," Sheppard agreed, still chuckling, "but, well, the guy was an idiot. They thought an Ancient generator was an oven. Seriously, they were roasting a pig over it." He laughed again.
"In other words," she tilted her head, "his tongue is as acerbic as ever?"
"Oh, hell yes."
"Hmm," she looked out again at the city, "Then, seriously, why do you take him into the field? I mean," her eyebrows lifted, "Funny as he is, sounds like he's a liability."
Sheppard's smile faded, and he shook his head. "No...he's not. Not up here," and he tapped his head. "Can't tell you how many insane ideas he's had to save our lives, most often coming up with them at the last second. It's amazing really."
Carter's brows lifted, "Oh?"
"Well, you know what I'm talking about..." Sheppard glanced at her, "You've read the reports, right?"
Her lips twisted a little, "Yes...that is...I've read McKay's reports. And the other scientist's. I don't have time to read the military or executive reports."
"You mean, mine, Caldwell's and Weir's."
"Yes. We have a lot of our own issues to deal with, Colonel—I just don't have the time, and it's not really my job. I read McKay's reports for the science...and they're usually pretty formal. He's all about the technology and the science and the discovery and not much else. I mean, the things you've found here are incredible, and," she gave a knowing smirk, "he certainly takes the credit for a lot of them, but..."
She trailed off, and she leaned forward again on the rail. "To be honest, I would really like to know why you put him on your flagship team. You must have made that decision pretty quickly. Why did you do it? How did you know he'd be the right choice?"
Sheppard was watching her, his eyes curious. "You don't know?"
"No."
"I put him on the team because, besides obviously being ridiculously smart, we hadn't even been here two days before McKay risked his life to save us." His brow furrowed, "Did you read the report on the energy creature?"
"Sure—McKay wrote that you managed to lure it out of the city by sacrificing a naquedah generator. You sent it through a wormhole and the creature followed."
The hazel eyes narrowed slightly, "What about what he did?"
"What he did?"
"To make it go through."
She just shook his head. Sheppard's eyebrows lifted, clearly surprised. For a moment he just stood there, then he reached up and tapped his radio. "Teyla, Ronon, you two planning on having lunch soon?"
He waited a moment, then nodded. "Great. I'm bringing Colonel Carter. Do me a favor and see if Carson, Elizabeth and Radek are around too, will you? And Cadman. And Biro. Oh, and Johnson. And Caldwell if he's still in the City. Hell...bring everyone you know who..." He smiled, obviously cut off by something said to him by whoever was responding on the radio. Then he nodded, "Exactly. Yeah. Fifteen minutes, then...what?"
Sam leaned against the railing, her arms crossed now as she listened to his one-sided conversation.
"Perfect. Great. Thanks Teyla." Sheppard tapped the radio off, and smiled at Carter. "Come on," he said, turning to walk off the balcony, "Time to see the other side of McKay, Colonel."
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The group at lunch was loud and uproarious, bursting into laughter almost constantly. Carson had tears in his eyes he was laughing so hard, and Ronon was grinning like a fool next to him. Teyla was coughing, holding her stomach, half choking on something she had eaten because she'd been laughing too hard, while a grinning Elizabeth unhelpfully whacked her back. Next to them, undaunted, Zelenka was describing some event in the lab with McKay, his eyes bright and vivid, doing what was, unquestionably, a great impression of the imperious dictator that was Rodney in the labs, hands flying everywhere. Corporal Johnson nearly spewed soda over the table at one point, covering his mouth hastily, while Major Lorne rapped him on the head for being a dork. When Zelenka finished, Caldwell jumped in, quickly describing a sparring match he'd overheard between Hermiod and McKay not long ago, describing the two of them as two mountain elks ramming their heads together, and he smacked his knuckles together in demonstration. Sheppard nearly fell off his chair at that, tilting it back too far, it was only Carter's quick grabbing of his arm and pulling him back down that got him into place again. Cadman then brought up McKay's sending Zelenka to the "kiddie planet" which got them all laughing again—except Zelenka of course.
And in and out of this core group, other people—scientists and soldiers both—came by to add their own stories, keeping the joy level so high, it was amazing it wasn't chemically induced.
Carter absorbed it all, torn between disbelief and total amazement. McKay had left a lot out of his reports.
A couple of hours later, freshly showered, and feeling ten times better, Sam followed Sheppard back to the room McKay was in.
As they got closer, the lightness began to fade from the air, and soon Carter was dreading facing looking at that same data again.
As they walked into the softly lit room, the machines beeping away, Carter sighed and found herself moving directly up to the front of the chamber, to see him again.
He was exactly the same. Horribly exactly the same.
Her heart felt like lead in her chest. What the hell had she been doing, leaving him for this long? When he was like this...?
She closed her eyes, but it didn't help. He was still there—fingers still gripping ineffectually at the spider's legs, face still contorted in pain, the hint of blood trickling down from where the metal had embedded. Eyes screwed tightly shut—would they ever open again?
Had she just attended his wake this afternoon? Oh God...she felt sick...
When she opened her eyes again, a tear ran down one cheek. Hastily, she wiped it away.
Too much emotion in too short a period of time.
Sheppard had walked over to the table, and was sitting down in front of McKay's laptop. His hands didn't touch it, he just looked over the screen, stone-faced, hazel eyes lit by the monitor light. If he knew what he was looking at, he gave no sign.
Carter turned around and walked over to sit next to him.
"You have to help him," Sheppard said quietly, not taking his eyes from the screen. Carter looked at him, then lowered her eyes.
"I know."
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TBC...