Aftermath
By Ann3
Writer's Note: Okay, who'd like a little bit of light relief now...? A break from all the whumpage...? You would...? Oh good, I'm glad about that. I'd imagine Carson's quite glad about it too...!
As always, I hope you enjoy !
Chapter Fourteen
Journey Out Of Darkness
No-one moved. No-one spoke. The silence was too deep to be broken, the fury too deep to express. In complete shock at what he'd just seen, Rodney McKay wasn't sure if he was even breathing.
Laura Cadman had to do something, though, anything, to distract herself from this ongoing nightmare. She had to prove to herself that, even in its deepest grip, its greatest agony, her Carson was still there.
Not even waiting for Kate Heightmeyer's prompting nod, she lifted Carson's hand up to her cheek – rewarded by the very faintest of smiles as a soft kiss inside his wrist somehow found a way through the agony, to a familiar and so often gleefully exploited weakness.
"La'ra, don'…! T - T'ckles…"
He'd barely had the strength to whisper this precious awareness of her presence, but it was enough. As Laura's face lit up with delight, a relief shared by everyone around her, it was more than enough. He knew she was there. Even as this horrific re-living of his ordeal continued, he knew she was there
A brutal enemy still held control over his mind, but she still held precious claim on Carson's heart. And there was no way in hell that Laura was going to relinquish that claim, or let anything destroy it.
More gentle kisses settled across the tops of Carson's fingers. Another sleepily weak, half-hearted protest followed.
"La'ra, don't...! Don'... it - it t'ckles…"
It was a charming moment between them, one now shared in helpless laughter of releasing relief. For Kate Heightmeyer, these sleepy protests, however endearing, also meant something more vital. After being trapped for so long in delirious terror, Carson Beckett finally had the chance to escape it.
It was from sheer exhaustion, of course, but his mind had finally relaxed enough to be receptive again. Not knowing how long this respite would last, Kate seized its opportunity with two very grateful hands.
"Carson…? Carson, it's Kate… can you hear me…? Can you tell me where you are…?"
The haggard face in front of her lost its smile, prompting an equally familiar, six-way reaction – the dread on six exhausted others melting into unrestrained relief as Carson's grew suddenly and quite astonishingly calm.
"Wraith c'mp… t – t'nt… Michael's c'ptured me, he's – he's interrogatin' me… makin' me talk…"
He'd spoken so calmly, with only a trace now of his earlier terror, that it took all of them by surprise. Even Kate looked startled as she tried to build on the breakthrough that had been so painfully gained
"Yes, Carson, I know… and I know how much it's hurting you, but you're nearly there, Carson… you just need to tell me what you've told him, Carson, can you do that…? Can you tell me…?"
Still closed eyes creased into a frown as Carson's head rolled fitfully across John Sheppard's shoulder.
"No, don' – don' want to t'lk any m're… 'm – 'm t'red… go 'way, I wan' – wan' to go sle'p… wan' to be wi' Laura..." he mumbled – a pout of quite adorable proportions charming Kate Heightmeyer as much as it frustrated her. One way or another, she had to keep him talking, even if it meant resorting to all out bribery.
She could try the suddenly appropriate lollipop approach, of course, or maybe yet another slab of shortbread, but – well, when it came to bribing Dr Carson Beckett, there was really only one way now to ensure it.
"I know you're tired, Carson…" she said at last, dropping her voice to its most persuasive softness. "I just need you to talk to me, Carson, just a few more minutes… then you can be with Laura for as long as you want… she's already here, Carson, she's right here waiting for you… she's been holding you too, in fact, and…"
Carson Beckett was many things. Even in the depths of hypnotised sleep, gullible was not one of them
"She – She 'sn't now…" he muttered peevishly, shifting once more against his makeshift pillow, his frown deepening in open disapproval. "Wr – Wr'ng sh'pe… no' snuggly 'nough, an' – an'… nae snug'ly b'ts…"
That sulky complaint had given Rodney McKay enough sniping ammunition to last him a lifetime. A double barrelled glare warned him that said lifetime would be counted in micro-seconds if he dared ever try.
So instead he kept wisely silent as he watched John and Laura swap places at Carson's shoulder, cautiously returning the broad grins which had already chased all trace of that threat from their faces.
Wrapped once more in Laura's uniquely snuggly, inimitably shaped embrace, Carson Beckett was smiling too – a sleepily mumbled compromise prompting another wave of relieved 'that was close…' laughter.
"lright, lass… if – if La'ra's h're, th'n… 'ye, we – we c'n k'ep talkin'… jus' a bit l'nger…"
As welcome as this frivolous bargaining had been, a more serious cause for celebration lay behind it - a knowledge shared among six now elatedly smiling faces.
The worst was over. The end to Michael's seemingly interminable grip on Carson's mind had just come a little bit closer.