Void, PG13, ~190 words (short, somewhat dark!fic for stella_pegasi)

Rodney lay on a cold, hard floor in a pitch black cell. He suffered fear at first - what was in there with him? Who was in there with him?

Darkness pressed in all around and his claustrophobia crushed his chest in the first signs of a pending panic attack.

The whisper of cloth.

A sharp intake of breath. Goosebumps on naked skin.

The feel of a knife, circling, tracing, plunging into quivering pale flesh. Drops of blood.

A terrified whimper.

But nothing. All in Rodney's imagination. He scuttled back like a crab until he hit a wall. He felt for the edges and found four ninety degree corners with no imperfections in between. There was no door. He was trapped.

Rodney's paranoid mind played tricks on him and he imagined horrific things closing in all around from the absolute black all around. He pressed his back against the wall, ignoring the chill spreading through him into his very bones. He drew his knees up and rocked, mumbling incoherently.

These four walls in the dark. Solid, cold, damp stone walls. Nothing more.

And that was torture enough itself.

xxxxxxxxxx

Snow, PG13, ~960 words (Written for clwilson2006) Set in S4, before Be All My Sins Remember'd.

The first winter on the new planet where Atlantis now resided was cold.

Where Lantea had been a steady temperature all year round (the Ancients placing the city in order to achieve this) the new residents had not yet figured out the whole ecosystem or seasonal patterns of this new one. More pressing matters such as Wraith wanting to eat everyone and Replicators wanting to kill everyone had fully occupied their time.

It became a more urgent issue when the first flakes of snow fell in the night. Heating was now more of a power drain than the power needed to move the city to a warmer clime.

A place was decided, but before Sheppard once again took the chair and fired up his engines, John insisted Rodney join him, Ronon and Teyla on the South Pier.

The snow was several inches deep by now and treacherously slippery where feet had already trampled it down.

Rodney just had time to glimpse an impressively large and lifelike snowman when there was an impact to the side of his head. He cried out in shock and grabbed his rapidly chilling face as he spun around. There was only water there and John's smirking face a short distance away.

Rodney seethed and said, "Come and pilot the city instead of throwing snowballs, Sheppard."

John was already crouching down gathering more snow for another attack.

Rodney scowled and turned to the snowman builders - Ronon and Teyla were completing it and Ronon spoke proudly, "Sheppard said great warriors on Earth make men from snow."

Teyla continued, "And that a larger and more lifelike snowman is a sign of a great and mighty warrior."

Rodney looked back to John incredulously and John shrugged at him before he lobbed another missile at Rodney. It hit him in the parka-coated chest this time and he flinched backwards from the blow.

Rodney sighed heavily as his feet slipped a little. "Well, I've got real work to do and when you stop playing childish games we can get out of here."

He stalked away, another of John's snowballs hitting him between the shoulder blades as a goodbye accompanied by a shout of, "Spoil sport!"

"Reminds me of college..." Rodney muttered darkly.

As he reached the door back into the warmth and safety of the floors which his feet actually gripped, John threw his last snowball. Rodney was too far away for John's aim to remain true and instead it slammed into the large icicle directly above him, causing it to snap off and fall.

Had Rodney kept walking it would've missed him, but John's startled shout made him draw up and stop. Therefore the deadly shard stabbed through parka, jacket and shirt and plunged deeply into his right shoulder.

Rodney fell to his knees from the impact. He felt his collar bone snap and his arm went limp. Ice quickly melted in his hot blood and turned the cold to pain pain pain.

He fell onto his back and shut his eyes, trying not to whimper but not being very successful.

The snow around him quickly went pink with gore. "Don't eat yellow snow," sprang into Rodney's shocked mind. But red...?

Hands held Rodney and words washed over him, but all that he heard was John saying sorry over and over.

He felt himself being lifted and moved back inside. His parka was cut away and he begrudged the loss. He was fond of that coat... Jeannie had given it to him.

"Do not worry," Teyla said. "She will send another one."

Huh, Rodney didn't realise he'd said that out loud.

There was a small sting of a needle and painkilling warmth spread through him. Bandages that quickly stained red were wrapped around his shoulder and his eyelids drooped in such heaviness he could no longer keep them open, so he didn't.

xxxxx

Rodney sat in the Control Room, his arm in a sling and his face tight with pain.

"Ow!" Rodney said as he yet again forgot that he couldn't use his right arm.

Radek was overseeing the moving of the city and Rodney was observing and commentating while John sat in the control chair several floors below.

"Ow," Rodney said again as he sat down at a computer and tapped one handedly.

"You are supposed to be resting," Radek said.

"I need to be here."

Radek shook his head and carried on co-ordinating the team of fully able bodied personnel assisting him.

xxxxx

Rodney caught up with Sheppard in the mess hall later. The snow was already melting and well on the way to clearing from the piers and high towers of the city in the warmer climate.

They were sitting down at a table with their lunch trays in front of them. John said, "Sorry about the arm, Rodney. Are we good?"

Rodney tried to fold his arms, but hissed. He then attempted a shrug, but that failed too.

John watched the whole thing with his face torn between amusement and sympathy. He said, "I'll get you a new coat. Jeannie might think it's a bit weird if you tell her what happened and ask her for one."

"Can you also get me a new collar bone and muscle? Damn thing nearly pierced my lung it went so deep!"

Sheppard looked guilty, "I said I was sorry. Anyway, it looks like you're doing a good job on replacing those parts on your own."

Rodney grimaced back at him. "We're good, Sheppard. We always will be." His face brightened when he spotted a chocolate muffin in John's hand - the last one swiped from the lunch table before Rodney had arrived.

John handed it to him and his guilty look turned into a small smile at Rodney's clear delight.