Last time: Did Rodney actually apologize? Because that would literally be a first. (Companion chapter to 28.)
Chapter 29. Supplement. Just a Couple of Girls and Rodney.
He'd always been pretty healthy. Hypoglycemic, a little sensitive to certain soaps and fabrics... probably allergic to latex... definitely allergic to citrus. But beyond those things, he was incredibly healthy. He'd never been sick. He never got the flu, never so much as broken a bone.
But seizures were terrifying. He'd never had his brain turn on him like that.
He understood as much as he needed to. He didn't remember what happened, just a blank space in memory. Three blank spaces, now. He knew enough of the facts to imagine what happened. The synapses in his brain lit up like a Christmas tree, cascading from one side to the other with nothing to stop it until it ran itself out of places to go.
He came to in the infirmary with worst headache of his life. Exhausted. The only thing he could keep down was water, even though he was starving. Still starving. It took a few minutes to be able to talk again, understand what happened. Just in time for it to happen again.
It wouldn't be so bad... just if he wasn't so scared.
His every breath hung on the edge of anxiety that it would happen again. He did his best to hide it from Carson and everyone, and they left him alone. Even Cadman fell strangely silent, but she had to feel it, too. They shared the same palpitating heart, didn't they?
Rodney… Cadman wondered quietly.
"Hm."
They'll figure it out, okay?
She was delusional. He scoffed and picked up a brussels sprout. Cadman must have ordered, because—why, exactly, would Rodney want to eat brussels sprouts on his death bed? Didn't matter... he couldn't eat anyway.
"Yeah, Zelenka and-and-and what army? Because he'll need an army. He's done nothing but screw everything up since—I don't know, I was in a Wraith dart, so I can't tell you exactly when." Probably being born. What could have possessed Zelenka to do this to him? Did he really hate him that much?
Okay, okay, maybe, but he didn't do this on purpose. He's trying to fix it. Everyone's trying to fix it.
"I need to be trying to fix it," Rodney grumbled. He sighed and Cadman stayed quiet for once. He heard footsteps at the doorway. It was Anna. Rodney rolled his eyes and looked back down at his plate. "What is it? Zelenka send you to tell me it's hopeless?"
Because it was hopeless. And Zelenka probably didn't have the guts to face Rodney himself right now. Why should he?
"I haven't talked to Radek," Anna answered.
"Oh." Well, that was… weird. "Why are you here, then?"
Anna crossed the floor to hop up on the gurney next to Rodney's. "To be your company," she said. Rodney watched curiously as she folded her hands in her lap and looked up at him sympathetically. "Alone in a hospital room is probably the worst thing to be."
Rodney could have laughed. That wasn't the worst way to die by far. Rodney had kept a running tally. Dying alone in a hospital was actually one of the better ways to die, especially with all the terrible ways there were in this galaxy alone.
"Drowning," he corrected. It was certainly one of the worst. Given a few seconds, he could come up with a few better.
"That's a pretty bad way to die." Anna hesitated, like she was going to argue. Maybe she didn't know what drowning was like. "But alone in a hospital is the worst way to live."
"Hm." He looked down, nodding a little. He fully expected to die alone in a hospital room. Maybe. In his darkest moments, he did, anyway. Sometimes he imagined he'd find a nice girl, get married, but, face it… There was no one in two galaxies that he wanted to deal with for long enough. Why was everyone so stupid?
Well, she's right, you know.
He tapped his head at the timely reminder. "Not alone."
Anna smiled. "Are you both okay?"
"Aside from the seizures…" Rodney muttered, Cadman's voice interrupting his thoughts.
Not too bad, I guess. Except that McKay's body is basically a disaster.
"Great," Rodney finished. At this point, he almost wished he would die. At least it would be quiet, then.
No, no, no. Zelenka was going to figure it out. He had to.
Rodney… Cadman said gently, effectively interrupting his thoughts along that line. Well enough; if he thought about it too long, he's realize how hopeless it was. You should apologize to her. For what you said to Zelenka. She was there, remember?
"Yeah…" Rodney mumbled, tapping his fingers impatiently. He remembered perfectly, and… well, yeah, he probably should have waited until Anna was in another room to call Zelenka "Doctor Fumbles McStupid," shouldn't he? Hadn't considered that.
Well, her relationship with him is kind of delicate right now. How do you think she felt with you calling her dad names like that in front of everyone?
"It's not like—"
Rodney didn't know how he would have finished that, since Cadman was pretty insistent.
Rodney! Apologize.
Rodney sighed and looked at Anna. Like he expected, she looked a little confused. Rodney was a little confused. But Cadman wasn't going to shut up… "Listen, uh, Anna, I should probably apologize that you were there for that. My, uh…" Nope, nope, it was actually Zelenka's fault, right? Rodney didn't do anything here. He was the victim. Right? "I probably shouldn't have said those things," he finished. "To Radek, I mean."
Oh, Cadman scoffed. Nice apology. No wonder you don't have any friends.
Anna said something, but Rodney didn't hear what it was. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.
"He shouldn't have rematerialized you," Anna answered. Oh, good, she thought he was talking to her. And she was exactly right about that, too. "He should have some something different. He knew that, but he didn't. He doesn't… he doesn't do anything right."
Oh, no, Rodney, you have to stop her, Cadman thought urgently. Here, let me—
No, no, no—what was she doing? Rodney felt his hand raise, but it wasn't him. "No, no, no, remember what—" Too late.
Damnit Cadman! Was she trying to give them another seizure? Was she trying to kill them? Was she even listening to what Anna was saying? What was she saying?
"You were wrong to say those things, but you weren't wrong about what you said," Anna said.
"Wait a second," Rodney heard his voice saying.
Cadman, stop, no, no, no. Cadman. Cadman. Cadman.
The woman was a professional at ignoring the things going on in her own brain, wasn't she? The brain she was using, anyway. That explained a whole lot, actually. Cadman. Stop it, it's my body—and you can't apologize for me! That's cheating, or something.
"And, for the record, your dad is one of the best scientists I've ever met."
Oh, nice. Rodney hoped no one else was around to hear that come out of his mouth. It would be just his luck if Zelenka was outside right now, listening.
You bet it's cheating, Cadman thought, slinking into the background. Now, was that so hard?
Rodney sighed, grateful to feel his lungs fill with oxygen on his command. Grateful when the world didn't blur into pink like it did before the last two seizures. Anna was staring at him. He was staring at Anna. What had she just heard him say? It couldn't have been too terrible.
"Yeah…" Rodney mumbled, for lack of anything else to say.
Anna hesitated for a long while, not saying anything.
Rodney didn't know what to say, but the silence was killing him. "So…" he said, just to fill the air with his own voice saying what he told it to. "How's the homework going?"
A/N: Yeah, a bonus chapter! How exciting...
Next time, this time, for real: I just need to sleep.
