Review Responses (See below)
Note: Updated for style and expanded on at 20:40 UTC on 21 December 2009
Temporal Reconnaissance
By koinekid
Time Frame: After Identity (Season 5, episode 18); After The Return (Season 3, episodes 10 and 11)
Spoilers: 3x10, 11 The Return, 5x18 Identity (major); 4x1 Adrift, 4x2 Lifeline, 4x16 Trio, 4x20 The Last Man (minor)
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Chapter Three: The Sleeper Has Awakened
October 2006
Five Days After SGA-1 Retook Atlantis
Deaf to Sheppard's protests, Rodney threw his legs over the side of the bed. He made no attempt to stand. Sitting was the most he could manage at the moment, and, now that Jennifer's seizure had run its course, his irrational need to be by her side was not so pressing. Catching the eye of Jennifer's favorite nurse, he beckoned her over.
"All right, Sleeping Beauty," Sheppard said. "Looks like we're going to be here a while. Why don't you tell us what happened?"
"Sleeping beauty?" Teyla raised a brow.
Sheppard grinned. "The new doc woke Rodney with a kiss."
"And this makes him a 'sleeping beauty?'"
Sheppard gave Jennifer's unconscious form an appraising look, not exactly lecherous, not exactly innocent. "I'd say Keller's the beautiful one."
Rodney capped his irritation, too concerned for Jennifer to rise to Sheppard's bait. The Air Force colonel had never given the pretty Midwestern doctor a second glance so far as Rodney knew. Resentment over her perceived culpability in Elizabeth Weir's death had not been easily let go, and, by the time it had, two other members of SGA-1 were competing over Jennifer. That made her off limits to its team leader. In theory, anyway.
"Any special reason she'd kiss you, McKay? Other than really great bedside manner, I mean?"
"We're dating, obviously." He and Jennifer had been discreet; still, Sheppard, if anyone, should have figured it out.
"Does she know you're dating?"
"Sheppard."
"Just teasing. So, you and Katie are..."
"I haven't spoken to Katie since she transferred back to Earth."
"And you met Dr. Keller—sorry, Jennifer on the rebound. Where the best and most meaningful relationships always start."
Rodney ignored Sheppard's smirk and the baffling inaccuracy of his statement in favor of shifting his attention to the nurse at his side. He frowned at the blood collection kit Marie was unpacking. He remembered Carson ordering blood work, but offering up his precious bodily fluids for pseudo-scientific testing hadn't been the reason Rodney called the nurse over. Still, he extended his arm without complaint and tried to act the part of the good patient while she skewered him.
Asking about Jennifer's condition resulted in Marie mumbling something about doctor-patient confidentiality. Protesting that he was a concerned friend—he almost said "loved one," but he and Jennifer had yet to use the L-word in public—accomplished even less. He was about to drop the nice guy routine and demand she fetch an actual doctor, when Sheppard came to the rescue. Marie had finished collecting blood and was labeling the vial, and Sheppard almost casually pointed out that stress was believed to be a major contributing factor to seizures. Putting Rodney's mind at ease, he suggested, would be beneficial to his health. Rodney didn't know how Sheppard knew that but was more than glad he did.
"Since you all witnessed everything," Marie said, exhaling a breath, "I don't suppose it's too big a breach of ethics for me to explain what you saw. Dr. Keller..." She lowered her voice as if to hide her ethical breach no matter how small. "Dr. Keller experienced a mild tonic-clonic seizure. Much less severe than yours, Dr. McKay."
"Mine? I don't remember a seizure, just..." Jennifer's tongue in my mouth. Rodney blushed.
"Short term memory loss is a common side effect. Don't let it concern you."
"Easy for you to say. You're not missing a chunk of your life."
Drs. Beckett and Cole were rolling Jennifer toward the exit, and, as the gurney neared, Rodney caught a good glimpse of her for the first time since her seizure. The paleness in her cheeks worried him. "Where are you taking her? Carson, answer me."
"To the scanner, Rodney." Annoyance made the Scot's voice shrill. "I'll be back for you shortly, and I'll expect none of your customary poor attitude. Dither about all you want when it's only your health at risk. But when my dear friend is ill, you'll nae waste my time."
Dr. Cole had gone on ahead while Carson made his threats. Before following, he cast a glare at Marie. "Off to the lab with you."
"Marie," Rodney called to the retreating nurse. "Jennifer will be all right, won't she? She'll wake up soon?"
Half turning, she replied, "You did, and there's no reason to think she won't. We'll know more after the tests."
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Carson returned minutes later as promised, his mood no lighter.
In the meantime, Rodney had commandeered Sheppard's earwig in an attempt to contact his second-in-command. Doubtless, Radek had a team checking Janus's lab for whatever might have caused these seizures. Since Carson's stupid lockdown kept Rodney from being there in person, monitoring Radek's every move over video chat seemed the next best thing. To facilitate that, he'd sent Teyla after the spare laptop in Jennifer's office (along with its AC adapter since the battery was probably dead). After ten minutes, she'd returned with the wrong computer—an outdated model with no webcam—and no power cord. At least the battery had been charged. He searched the network for preliminary reports, but so far the science team had filed nothing.
"Radek? Radek Zelenka?" Rodney removed the earwig to examine it. "Is it broken? Don't you take care of your equipment?"
Sheppard crossed his arms. "Maybe you broke it during your decontamination ritual."
"I wiped it down with a tissue."
"A tissue drenched in hand sanitizer, which is bad for electronics since it's a liquid."
"A fluid, actually, and I told you I'm not touching anything that's been near one of your orifices without cleaning it or taking antibiotics first. Besides, I'm highly susceptible to ear infections because of this medication I'm on—"
"It's around your ear, not inside. There's no risk of infection."
"'No risk of infection.' How many women have heard you make that speech?" Rodney tried the earwig once more, exaggerating his pronunciation and increasing his volume as if speaking to a child. "MC-KAY TO ZE-LEN-KA."
"Zelenka isn't back yet, remember?" Sheppard reached for the earwig, but the physicist jerked away.
"Back?" He left? "Did Woolsey give him time off again? If he skipped out on work for another cousin's funeral—"
"Woolsey? Janus's lab? Keller's office? You realize you're not making sense, don't you, McKay?"
"One of us isn't."
Any response Sheppard might have offered was preempted by the squeal of sneakers approaching at a rapid pace. The verbal combatants both winced at the ear-splitting sounds. Even Ronon, who'd been so silent that Rodney had forgotten he was there, looked uncomfortable.
Fire in his eyes, Carson made directly for Rodney's bed, waving a tablet madly. "What did you do to my database? I'm completely locked out, I can't even access the scanners."
"Me?" Rodney shrank back. "I didn't do anything."
"It's locked with your authorization code. I can't help my patient as long as you—"
"Let me see that." Rodney snatched the tablet. "Huh, so it is." He input his password. "There you go, full access restored. No harm done. How's Jennifer? Is she awake yet?"
Carson's mouth moved as if forming sounds. Had he put breath behind them, Rodney was sure he would have heard cursing. At last, "Aye, and she's asking for you. You'll see her when I'm done examining her, not a moment before." The doctor turned on his heel and left.
Rodney sagged back into bed, relieved at the good news but also puzzled by his confrontation with Carson. He didn't remember locking the medical database. Come to think of it, he hadn't altered a single setting in weeks. Modifying her systems without consulting her upset Jennifer. After the body-switching incident, the last thing he wanted to do was upset her.
What he really wanted—needed to do was figure this out. For that he needed data. "McKay to Control."
"This is Chuck. Go ahead, Doctor."
"Chuck, did sensors pick up anything unusual..." Marie said the seizure happened ninety minutes ago. Add time since her departure. An hour, forty-five. The computer's clock said 22:47. Odd, it had been early afternoon when he'd taken Jennifer to the lab. "...around 21:00?"
"Just a sec...Nothing, Dr. McKay."
That made no sense. He'd taken Janus's sensor dampeners offline months ago. Shaking his head, he instructed Chuck to issue a city-wide alert asking whoever was in charge of science in his and Radek's absence to contact him via Sheppard's line ASAP. Now to pursue another line of research. "John, I need to talk to whoever found me. Maybe they noticed something useful."
"You already did. It was Marie."
"She's not a first responder." Those were doctors and orderlies with strong backs. "What was she doing in the lab?"
"Rodney, you collapsed here, probably from overworking yourself. Get some sleep, and you'll be fine in the morning."
"John, I collapsed in Janus's lab after triggering..." He snapped his fingers and smiled his eureka smile. "Of course, the cube was just a power source. I was so entranced with the discovery of an actual black body I didn't consider it might be the ultimate electromagnetic radiation collector, a solar panel on steroids that works in a closed room. The man was a genius! Not on my level, but damn good."
Rodney stood, faltering a little before settling into a steady pacing about the room. "I don't know what the cube powered, but give me an hour and I should have some idea." Turning to go, he plowed into Teyla, who was just reentering the room with the long awaited AC adapter. He and she hit the floor, and the adapter clattered away.
Teyla recovered first in time to help Sheppard pull the physicist to his feet. "Perhaps you should return to bed, Rodney. You do not seem steady on your feet."
He waved off her concern. "I'm fine. Just glad this didn't happen last year."
"Last year?"
"Falls are bad during pregnancy. My second grade teacher slipped over a projector cord, almost miscarried."
Teyla's eyes widened.
"I shouldn't have said anything, should I?" Rodney's face fell. "Jennifer says I need to be more tactful. I'm not sure I agree. You can't really change the truth by hiding it. But you have enough to worry over without thinking about could-have-beens. Sorry."
"Rodney, I have never been pregnant." She threw a glance at Sheppard when she spoke.
"Fine, 'with child,' 'expecting,' whatever term you prefer. Look, I've got to talk to Carson about ending this lockdown. Say 'hello' to Torren for me. Again, sorry."
Sheppard sidled up to Teyla as Rodney exited. "Torren?"
"My father's name was Torren, but he ceased to live many years ago." She paused. "And, regardless of terminology, I have never been pregnant. I fear something is very wrong with our friend."
"I'll go after him."
Ronon stepped forward. "Need backup?"
"Against Rodney?" Sheppard shook his head, then, "Might as well."
Without warning, Rodney returned nearly colliding with Ronon this time. Mumbling an apology, he walked at a sharp clip back to his bed. He scooped up the laptop, tapped the space bar to wake up the suspended display, and double-clicked the clock in the taskbar.
"John, is this date correct?"
"October 18, 2006. Yeah, it's right. Why?"
Rodney groaned. "I think I know why no one's heard of Janus's lab, why Teyla's never been pregnant..." Why I just talked to our dead expedition leader. "Because none of it's happened yet. The device I mentioned? I think it's a sort of...transmitter designed for...I don't know, temporal...reconnaissance."
"You think you've stumbled across a machine that...what, predicts the future?"
"Not yet."
"Huh?"
"Let me put it this way: You know how much I hate the film Back to the Future? Well, I hate it even more now that I'm living it."
"All right, Michael J. Fox," Sheppard said. "Assuming you're right about all this, shouldn't you try to minimize the impact on the timeline?"
"Maybe, if I hadn't already told Teyla about her son. Besides, I already rewrote history once. Might as well make it a two-fer." He tapped the earwig. "McKay to Weir...Elizabeth, you can come down. Yeah, there's no biological contamination."
"That," said a voice in the doorway, "would be Carson's call."
"Jennifer." He smiled and started toward her. Then he stopped. She looked upset. Fear struck, and Rodney's mind cycled through worst-case scenarios: Jennifer remembered nothing and was a stranger to him. Jennifer remembered everything, blamed him, and would never speak to him again. Jennifer remembered...
Jennifer remembered. She recognized his fear, intuited its origin, and eradicated it with a wink and a mouthed "Love you."
Breathing hard, Carson caught up with her. "She bolted the moment she noticed the date stamp on the scans. Wouldn't hear of not seeing you."
Rodney tossed the computer aside and met Jennifer halfway, sliding his arms around her waist in a loose embrace. They were in public after all. "You noticed right away?" he said.
She nodded, returning his hug quickly then stepping back and taking his hands in hers.
"Took me ten minutes." He smiled and blushed a little.
Jennifer grinned. "You're slipping, McKay. The old uniforms clued me in. The date stamp just confirmed it."
He looked at Carson, and, sure enough, the doctor wore an old-style jacket with the half-elliptical fields of yellow in the front rather than the understated diagonal striping the expedition had adopted in 2007.
"Wait, it's 2006. That means he's the..." Rodney's voice dropped to a whisper. "...the real Carson?"
"Uh-huh. Guess I've been demoted." The words were harsh, but she said them with a smile that harbored only a hint of sadness.
Rodney made a note to talk with her about that later. For now, he nodded toward his best friend. "You mind if I?"
"Go," Jennifer said.
Another quick squeeze, and he moved to where Carson stood, engulfing the Scot in a big bear hug.
"Okay, this is different," Carson said, adding, after a moment, "and it's starting to become the teensiest bit uncomfortable."
Laughing, Jennifer turned to the room's other occupants. "Colonel Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon, I'm Jennifer Keller. I'll be one of your new physicians. It's good to meet you all again for the first time."
Ronon nodded, Sheppard casually saluted, and Teyla enfolded Jennifer's hand in both of hers. "It is good to meet you, Jennifer. Rodney made some...interesting comments earlier. Perhaps you will be able to explain them."
Jennifer nodded. "I'll try." Rodney could put his foot in his mouth quite easily. She could only imagine the effect temporal displacement would have on his social awkwardness. Was temporal displacement the right term if the "time travel" wasn't physical? Her first act on figuring out the date was to run her fingers over her abdomen. No bullet scar. And Rodney's hands no longer bore the scars from the rope burns he'd gotten the first time he saved her life. This suggested that their consciousnesses had been transferred to their younger selves. A bitter thought: The Ancients were quite good at transferring consciousnesses.
Another thought: This was her first real impression with Atlantis's military commander. "Colonel, I apologize for kissing Rodney earlier. It was unprofessional and a lapse in judgment."
"No problem, Doc. I always assume any woman who kisses Rodney is out of her right mind."
"Hey," Rodney whined.
Jennifer laughed. "I'm only apologizing for kissing in public." Oh, what the hell. I care more about what Rodney thinks of me than Sheppard, anyway. "I'm happy to say we do a lot more than kiss in private."
Her mischievous smile disappeared when she saw the woman standing next to Rodney in the doorway. "Dr. Weir."
"Dr. Keller, I presume."
What was that about first impressions?
TBC
Thanks for reading. Reviews are appreciated.
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Review Responses
Chapter 1 (forgot to include these last time):
BetherdyBabe – Thanks for the review. I'll try to stay as true to the characters as possible within the framework of the story. How would Rodney react? What would Jennifer say in this situation? etc. etc.
I feared the science might be a little much for some readers. Glad it was so well received.
DaniWilder – the first to review a new McKeller :) Thank you for the kind words. I do place a lot of emphasis on characterization in my stories, and it's good to hear that I R and J are in character (still, I've been known to write OOC if it serves my purpose).
And, no, I'm not a physicist, just a good researcher. Don't expect a lot of science in the story, and don't expect it to be completely real-world accurate. I'm trying for SciFi accurate. Anything beyond is icing.
ElisaD263 – Jennifer back down? Never. After watching the closing scene of Brain Storm, there's no doubt in my mind that she won't coddle McKay. You've got a problem? Here's the solution: be more humble. 'Sides, I prefer reading--and writing--about strong women.
Senrab Nomis – Thanks for the review, and I hope I continue to meet the literary expectations of my readers. As for this being a canon piece...we'll see. Just because it starts out canon...
[Note: I have an idea for a story that takes place aboard Daedalus during the trip back to Atlantis following Brain Storm. The events could fit nicely in canon. It's a long story, so I'll wait until I finish this one, or at least make significant headway.]
x Varda x – Banter is kind of my thing so expect more of it--probably too much. Whumpage might be more mental than physical at first, but we'll have to see. [Based on Chapter 2, guess I was wrong.]
Thanks also to LMXB and xPKx for reviewing.
Chapter 2:
BetherdyBabe – Jennifer immediately going over to Rodney? Blame the hopeless romantic in me. I hope to update once a week, but we'll see how long I can keep that up.
ElisaD263 – Glad you liked the chapter.
RoryFaller – Glad to add to the McKeller goodness, and glad you like it. The parts you mentioned were my favorite parts too.
