Chapter 26
Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me
"The Pegasus Express is boarded and ready for departure, sir," Mitchell imparted as Gen. Landry and he walked down the corridor to the medical facilities. "All who are ready to go back home are on the Odyssey including some of the expedition members. They will rendezvous with the Daedalus in about a week and a half."
"I hope the transfer of passengers goes easier than transferring flights in Atlanta," replied Landry with a hint of mischief in his voice.
"Yes sir," chuckled Mitchell. "The Ha'taks will be departing within the next hour, as well. They'll take all survivors of Joben back or to other Jaffa held worlds. The Blinding Light, according to Sgt. Harriman, has been repaired just enough to be towed to shipyards on another Jaffa held world."
Landry nodded and grunted in return.
"For what it's worth, it was the right call, sir." They stopped in front of the door to the isolation ward.
"Of that I have no doubt in my mind, duties of command, Colonel." Landry pushed the door open and they walked down another corridor until they stopped in front of another door. "After seeing and hearing all those people, I have no regrets about pressing that particular button."
Mitchell opened the door to the room and allowed Landry to enter. Dr. Beckett, Teal'c, Jackson, Carter, Sheppard's team and Master Bra'tac were already within it waiting for the pair. Sheppard lay on the bed in the middle with eyelids at half-mast.
"Glad everyone could make it," Landry greeted in his gruffest, yet most personable way. Ronon hovered behind the head of the colonel's bed while McKay and Teyla took up either side. Landry realized this team had become a unit. He had heard stories about McKay and Sheppard's maverick and almost anti-social ways, but somehow, those were overcome and a tight little group had been born. "Good to see you a little more awake Lt. Col. Sheppard."
"Good to be a little more awake, sir." The voice came out low key and respectful. "Good to be home, sir."
"Colonel, are you sure want this audience for the debriefing?" Landry asked.
Sheppard looked between McKay and Teyla and then up through his eyelids to where he guessed Ronon to be standing. "I think I'll need them, sir and the rest need to hear what I have to say first hand."
"As you wish, son. Well, let's get on with it." Landry grabbed a chair to sit next to the bed. SG-1 backed up to a wall near Master Bra'tac and Sheppard began at the beginning with falling off a cliff and ended at the ending with his being deposited in the SGC infirmary. Landry interrupted only sporadically to clarify a few areas and allowed him to stop when he needed. The story had taken its toll and he closed his eyes for a moment. He started speaking before opening them.
"Master Bra'tac, I wanted you here so you knew what happened to your people, especially the children." Sheppard licked his lips and looked across the room at the warrior. "I'm sorry I did nothing."
Bra'tac took a deep breath and straightened before answering, "These are dangerous times, Col. Sheppard of Atlantis. You did nothing-- so you say. I say you did something by marking their passing and letting us know. We are a warrior race, born and bred to fight. It sounds like Rein did that and understood your deflection. We won in part because she did not expect the Jaffa to be here. We will remember them and they will not have died in vain. Rein's mother is aboard my ship as is his youngest sister. I will tell them of his role."
"Thank you sir." Sheppard looked at Beckett. "I have one last thing. Doc, they don't want your cure."
"Aye lad, which would be my way of thinkin' too." Beckett pushed off the wall he had been leaning on and walked to the bed.
"They don't want to give up their immortality and why would they? She had a fatal wound and sloughed it off as if it were a paper cut. You realize your retrovirus is a weapon now, right?"
Landry watched as Dr. Beckett's face became somber and his eyes lost a little light. "Aye Colonel, it is readily apparent now. In the beginning, it was a way to end the cycle. After witnessing the suffering from a few days ago, I know it is needed and what it is. I suffer no delusions of it being anything but a weapon now."
Landry stood up and patted Sheppard on the leg. "You get some sleep and thank you, Colonel." He motioned for Beckett to follow him with the others and left the little room.
Once they were in the hallway out of earshot, Landry stopped. "How many times did she feed on him a day?"
Beckett seemed taken aback for a second before answering. "Anywhere from none to four or five times depending on her mood or on his condition. Once again, she was very controlled in her actions."
"She used it as a torture device. Not just on him, but on him through the others. Is he going to be OK? That's a lot to handle."
"The Colonel's very resilient, but from what Dr. Meeks has reported, it'll take a while to rebound from this. His team's here so that counts for a lot, actually."
"I can see that." Landry looked at SG-1 and Bra'tac. "Let's leave them to rest. I think his team is looking as drained…" He stopped and winced. "Sorry, poor choice of words-- as fatigued as he is."
"You get use to the choice of words where the Wraith are involved." Beckett smiled sadly and opened the door to the room. "I'll make sure they find a bunk."
"You do that Doctor." He turned to face the exit at the end of the corridor and started walking. "Well, let's get you underway Master Bra'tac and say bon voyage to our out-of-galaxy guests."
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He turned his head to the side and looked at his graying sideburns in the bathroom mirror. He wrinkled his nose as if they gave off a foul odor. He turned his face back to the front and squinted. There were definitely more fine wrinkles around the eyes and gray in the beard. Distinguished, that was a nice way to say old. She had taken years off. Sheppard stepped back and looked at the bottle of Grecian Formula that Rodney had brought as a joke.
Ha, ha, very funny, it is to laugh.
Just not as many years as she could have, thank God. It had taken a whole week before he had the C. A. Jones to view the damage for himself. Everyone kept saying it was minimal, but he figured they were trying to humor him. They were right, but it still disturbed him. Yes, he was a vain son of a bitch, but damn it, he liked the way he looked before hand and wanted to grow into this stage normally like everyone else got to. She had plopped him into it without letting him get prepared with the occasional wiry gray hair poking up and being a thorn in his vanity. Carson speculated anywhere from two to five years were taken from him. Then, add six months and he was owed a few birthday presents, hence the hair coloring goop. Rodney was such an ass.
But, he was Sheppard's ass…and that didn't come out quite right.
"You're late."
Sheppard used the mirror to look at Ronon standing in the doorway behind him. "I'm coming Mommy Dearest, just putting on my face. We still gotta work on that knocking thing, don't we?"
Ronon raised an eyebrow, "You know, I've been watching that ingenious little box and now know of what you speak."
Sheppard turned to face him. "Do tell. Then, McKay and I will have to come up with even more obscure references to stump you with, my dear."
"Red Riding Hood."
"Very good, come on I don't want to have to pay for a missed appointment with the good Dr. Meeks." They exited the quarters assigned to him after his release from the infirmary about a week and a half ago. It had been nearly a month now and he was getting better day by day.
Sheppard looked at Linus walking next to him and did not miss a beat in talking with Ronon who he knew must be there. Alright, maybe not completely better, but it really was getting better.
"The physical therapy is coming along nicely. I'm only calling him the imaginative names once or twice a session now." He gave a satisfied smile as Ronon's voice answered from Linus' lips.
"If you want, I could show him a few techniques from Sateda. That would help step up your recovery and name calling all at one time."
"Why thank you Ronon, but I'll let him continue with his own creative and painful ways." They stopped in front of an office and Sheppard grabbed the door handle. "Well, thanks for the escort. I believe Rodney will be meeting me for lunch and Teyla has dinner duty. Where are you sight-seeing today?"
"A place called McDonald's."
"Enjoy the fries, they have the best." Sheppard took a step and stopped. He looked at the retreating back of Ronon and yelled, "Thanks! Again!"
Ronon gave a casual wave and continued on his way as Sheppard stepped into the office. It was sparse with a desk in one corner and two chairs set-up in the middle so that two people could have a nice little chat. The obligatory couch sat against one wall and bookshelves adorned another. Meeks stood up from behind her desk and motioned him over to one of the chairs.
"Good to see you Col. Sheppard." She gave that warm you-can-trust-me-with-you-deepest-and-most-troubling-thoughts smile. Yeah, right.
"Nice to be seen." He sat down and crossed his ankle on top of his knee and rested his hands on the armrests. "Sorry I'm a little late."
"No problem, shall we begin?"
"By all means," he answered as he looked at the two of them. Osy squatted by Meeks' chair and batted her eyelashes at him. The drugs they had him on to curb his outbursts were fantastic. He hardly panicked anymore when they would appear. There was only one vision that did disconcerted him enough for a double take and there it was right on cue, the pediatric set sitting on the floor at his feet listening to the doctor as if it was story time. They giggled and whispered trying to hush themselves so they could hear the doctor.
He swallowed, grabbed the arms of the chair a little tighter and smiled. He would do his song and dance. He would do whatever they said. He would tell them what they wanted to hear. He had one goal and it was to return to Atlantis.
"The hallucinations are becoming more and more infrequent. And, I haven't strangled anyone today. Of course, the day ain't over with yet," he said cheerily.
She smiled back at him. "That's certainly good to hear."
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Rodney walked the corridor and paused to the side of the open door. He scrunched up his face and debated whether he should go in or not. It was time to pay the piper. He screwed whatever courage he had and stepped into Sam's lab.
"Well, hi McKay," she greeted jovially. He blinked and watched her as she stood at her laptop. "I was hoping you and I could go over some of these readings from various artifacts from Merlin's stock pile."
"Um, well, sure." He hesitantly scooted over to her work bench. "What do you want me to take a look at first?"
"You know you're a spoiled brat, don't you McKay? But it seems you've grown up a little. I'm sorry, but I still have to do this." She turned abruptly and punched him right in the eye. His head snapped back in shock and his brain took a moment to register that that had really hurt.
"OW!" He grabbed the puffing mutilated part of his face and bent over moaning. "Ow, ow, OW!"
She grabbed both sides of his head and stood him up. She kissed him with the passion of a thousand burning suns or something to that effect if those trashy novels were correct. When she finished, she whispered in his ear, "And that is a taste of something you will never, ever have." She let his head go and left with a swoosh of self-satisfaction.
McKay's brain shut down and he stared dumbfounded at her afterimage. He did not know whether to go to the infirmary for an ice pack or back to his quarters for a cold shower.
Or, he could just stand there and die of pure bliss.
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"She fucking sucker punched me and then made my toes curl…what kind of message is that?" A wet-headed Rodney asked Sheppard as they left the psychiatrist's office. "I mean, I know she means I'll never, ever, ever go out with you, but damn, I almost want to piss her off again just so she feels the need to punish me, again. That's down right perverted, isn't it?" He held the ice pack to his eye and removed it occasionally to probe the tender area as they walked.
Sheppard laughed silently to himself. He was only half listening because he wanted to crush that windpipe with his own bare hands just to make the man stop talking. As he said, those drugs were fantastic and he was cool as a cucumber. He would not act on such a vile notion.
Instead, he sent a stinging barb hurtling towards the scientist. "I've seen you sneaking peeks at Sgt. Smith's porno mags, perverted suits you nicely, McKay."
"Oh please, I was reading the articles…Okay, so I wasn't, but we're out there all alone and a guy has needs that I think you have exercised on occasion there Buckaroo Bonzai. So you have no right to lecture me, Lt. Colonel Libido."
They entered the mess and got in line. "Two or three indiscretions and I'm labeled as a lothario. Please, you know who we've gotta get lessons from is Zelenka. I don't think he's spent a night alone since we got to Atlantis. The women must dig the accent."
They filled their trays and sat at a corner table away from everyone else. Crowds were still a little disconcerting for him and he was still waiting to see the open sky. He half-heartedly listened to McKay's prattling about some of the technological discoveries they made about the Wraith Cruisers and other inanities until Lucy suggested he remove McKay's voice box from his throat. She bobbed her head back and forth in that serpentine way of hers as she straddled the chair behind McKay.
He imagined his hand sinking into the flesh and ripping the vocal cords out and then tying them into a bow. He kept nodding amicably as McKay went on about the finds that the SGC had made in their battle against the Ori. John slurped on some Jell-O and smiled back as he went through different knots he could make with the pieces of sinew.
Midway through a discourse on Merlin's obtuseness, McKay stopped talking and looked with great disgust at John's hand. He followed Rodney's line of sight to the object of his disgust. Somehow, a lowly house fly had breached security and reached the lower levels only to crawl on his left pointer finger.
He looked at the little insect and thought, the next time he came across the Wraith, turn about was fair play. They would be on the receiving end of his loving touch and kind words. He looked back up at Lucy and scowled at her. He was not a vengeful man by nature, but her kind would pay.
McKay stared expectantly at Sheppard. "What's wrong? And, eeww! Do you know the kind of germs those things carry?"
Sheppard eased back in his chair keeping the hand with the insect on it very still. He rested his elbow on the back and smoothly replied, "Nothing, just thinking about how glad I am to be here." He lifted his other hand up and shooed the persistent fly away. "Better?"
Rodney smiled back. "Yes and me too," he answered out of order.
Sheppard could keep control because he was fine. Did he not just prove that he had control over his more violent impulses? Rodney's neck was unmarred, and the little winged insect was alive and annoying another diner.
Now he knew that John Sheppard would not even hurt a fly--
--unless provoked.
The End
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A/N: This is where this story ends with a little Hitchcock.
John's grayness is supported by a picture I saw from Season 3's episode, Sateda. He's joining the rest of us that are approaching or are in our 40's. I jumped up and down and went whoo-hoo! when I saw those little nasty gray guys in his sideburns. :)
I have also posted the Epilogue as well.