a/n: Thanks for all following this story. I know it is quite darker than my other pieces. You can blame and thank beta-extraordinaire Shadows-of-Realm who initially planted the seeds for this story. Also have to thank Crye 4 Me for a nice chunk of the brainstorming of the fine details. I am putting a warning up for this chapter as there are gruesome things mentioned, but nothing is graphic. Please leave a review.
Chapter 5- A Sliver of the Truth
John felt a chill invade his veins at the tone and accusations Rodney just made. He had no idea why he would say that and it hurt. "Rodney?" he questioned.
"Stay away, murderer," Rodney yelled in a high pitched scream. "Murderer," came more screams in rapid succession, blurring the more times they were said. Before anyone had a chance to react, the enraged man had sprung across the room and his hands wrapped around John's neck with a vice-like grip. He had every intention of robbing the man of the air just like the countless times the man had done it to him.
John struggled to break free, but the more he struggled the tighter the grip became. Trying to pry Rodney's hands away only enraged the distraught man even more. "Rodney, stop." He barely got the words out. Sheppard tried to look at Jennifer for help. If anyone could talk Rodney down it would be her.
Jennifer knew she had to do something quickly before the situation go more out of control than it already was. "Rodney, baby, look at me," she tried to force his face to look at him, but he was fighting it.
"No, get off of me. He has to die. He tried to kill me. He must pay," Rodney's voice wavered. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes as he felt some vengeance for what he was put through.
"John didn't do anything to do. Let him go. Rodney, please let him go," she knew he was not thinking clearly and he would only feel worse whenever he regained his senses. "Come on, baby let your angel take care of you. Are you hungry? Do you want to go back to sleep?" Jennifer whispered as she put her face close to his. "I don't want you to hurt him. Please let him go. As much as it hurts inside hold onto me that tight," Jennifer whispered against his ear.
His wife's words finally got through to Rodney and he released the hold on John's neck. He stumbled a few steps before he extended his arms to Jennifer.
John had no idea what Jennifer said to get Rodney to get him to let go, but was glad it worked. He gasped to catch his breath as his back collided with the wall. His lungs and chest burned as it almost felt like the hands still were gripping him. There was more to this than anyone knew and the only one who could tell them could not. He knew Woolsey would consider Rodney a high liability and danger at this time, but locking him up would only hinder his healing and it seemed like Jennifer was able to calm him down. The Colonel first had his doubts when Jennifer said Rodney was okay with her, but with the way he held his arms open, begging to be held by her, John was relieved that Rodney was letting Jennifer comfort him. With as lost and walled up the ordeal made Rodney, it was the bond between the two souls that let the shattered scientist to allow his other half to help.
Jennifer sighed with relief and immediately pulled Rodney into her arms. "I'm not going to let anyone hurt you," she winced as Rodney held onto her tighter than he ever held on before. "I know it hurts," she buried her face in the side if his neck. The lump in her throat made swallowing impossible. It felt like his pain was being transferred to her. The female Dr. McKay doubted that she would have been able to survive all the torture and abuse her husband went through. With a tear streaked face, Jennifer looked up at John. "I'm sorry," she mouthed, watching the dark-haired man rub his neck. The skin was red and she could make out the handprints. The physician in her wanted to check and make sure John was okay, but the wife in her would not let go of her shaking husband.
John knew it was time to make his exit because Jennifer had the situation under control. Before he left the room, the sore man turned around. "The reason I came by was to let you know I was going to have a video conference with Jeannie and if you wanted to come, but he needs you more." With that John left to make the call he knew Jeannie had been waiting for, the news was not going to be the best but Rodney was alive.
"I don't want to hurt anymore. Why won't it go away? I feel him kicking me, over and over. It just won't stop," Rodney's voice was full of pain as if he was being kicked hard in the gut.
"Who's kicking you? Where's he kicking you?" Jennifer was going to let him take the lead on this. If it was going help, she would do anything for him.
Jennifer needed to evaluate if the pain Rodney was feeling was real or if it was something his mind was creating. The scans taken upon his arrival showed no abdominal trauma and she hoped that this was not something that was missed, knowing that going back to the infirmary would be very detrimental to his psyche. "Come and lie down in bed. Let me do a quick exam," she led Rodney back to their bed and assisted him down.
"Make it stop," Rodney curled into a fetal position and started to shake like he was having a seizure, but it was clear he wasn't by the haunting wails coming from him.
For what felt like the millionth time since Rodney came home, the distraught wife's breath caught in the back of her throat. An anger never felt so strong before bubbled up inside, causing an urge to hunt down and slowly kill the people who put her love through this. Jennifer climbed into bed and held Rodney tight from behind, whispering encouraging words to get him to calm. "Show me where it hurts. Show me where they hurt you."
"My stomach," he howled and doubled over as if in real pain. "He won't stop. Ronon won't stop. Here," Rodney reached for his wife's hand and placed it over spot where he left the endless kicking. "Can't you feel it?"
"I don't feel anything," Jennifer's voice cracked with the raw emotions of anger and sorrow mixed. "I want you to do something for me. Do you want to do something for me?" She did not understand why Rodney was accusing members of his team of being the people attacked him. There had to be a reason for it and figured it was something done on their quest to destroy her husband.
"Okay," the frightened man said a little reluctantly.
"Close your eyes, tightly. Take a couple of deep breaths," she whispered as calmly and soothingly as the situation would allow. Jennifer carefully slid her hand out from Rodney's and slid it under his shirt to touch the bare skin of stomach where there once was the barrier of his shirt a moment ago. "You trust me right?" the physician saw him flinch at the initial contact and sensed his hesitation over the gentle, intimate moment.
"The only one," Rodney's voice was full of fear. He was uncertain what his wife was up to, but somewhere in the nether regions on his mind he knew Jennifer was the only one he could trust not to hurt him.
"That's good," the wife whispered as she felt the tension slowly dissipate. "Now close your eyes," Jennifer repeated. Once they closed, a small smile appeared on her lips, "Try to relax. I know that's hard, but just try a little for me."
"I'll try," he relaxed slightly. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault. This isn't right. You shouldn't have to do this," he tensed up again, worse than before.
"This is not your fault. Don't even think that. I'm not going anywhere. You are my husband and I love you. We promised to be there for each other in good and bad times. When you hurt, I hurt," Jennifer placed a small kiss on the back of his neck. "You have me forever. I'm going to be here for you every step of the way. To hold you when it hurts too much and when the bad dreams won't go away. To give you a shoulder to cry on when you need to let go. To lend you a smile whenever you need it. To give you my heart so you know I will always love you no matter what."
Rodney slumped back against his wife as he let her words seep into the cracks of the wall he had put up around him. "Love you..." his voice trailed off, sounding almost like his old self.
The Wisconsin native was glad to hear those words, knowing those evil people had not completely destroyed him. She was glad to feel that he was relaxed and she could do what she had planned. "When you feel that kicking again I want you to close your eyes and think of what this feels like," Jennifer started to draw random patterns on Rodney's stomach, something she used to do when they were lazily lying in bed at night or when he had an upset stomach. "Remember what that feels like?" she had hoped that when the bad memories surfaced that he could work through them by replacing them with good ones.
Rodney nodded as he no longer felt pain. "Feels nice. Don't stop," he was glad to feel something other than pain for once and he did not want it to end.
"I won't," she reassured the man.
With each passing pattern, Rodney relaxed a little more and his body drew closer to sleep. "I killed them. I killed them all," he muttered softly before falling asleep.
John ignored the looks he got on his hurried trip to the gate room. He knew the marks from Rodney were quite visible, but it was no one's business how he got them.
"Everything okay, Colonel?" Richard pointed out. "Should I even ask?"
"A little accident. Everything is under control. Is everything is set up?" John brushed off the concern, Rodney was where he needed to be and he did not want to take him from the one person who could help him.
"Chet is ready to dial. You can use my office if you want some privacy," Woolsey offered knowing that not many people knew the full extent of what happened to McKay. The least he could do was offer if Jeannie was ready to hear it.
Sheppard smirked at the face Chuck made at being called the wrong name. "Chet, you heard the man. Dial the gate," he tapped the back of the man's chair before heading to the privacy of Woolsey's office. It was the closest office to the gate that would offer the privacy he needed.
Jeannie had been a nervous wreck since she got the call from the SGC saying they had news on her brother, but they could not tell her what. Every possible scenario popped into her head and she had the distant hope that when the image popped up on the screen that it would be her brother's face she would see. She was not surprised when she saw John face. The worried sister could not tell if the news he had to tell was good or bad.
"We found him," John got straight to the point. "Rodney's alive." Though he was not sure if he would say that it was really living at this point.
Jeannie bought her hands to her face and the tears started to pour down, "When? Where? Is he okay?" There were so many more questions she had, but those were most important.
"Yesterday. We were doing standard recon when we found him. None of us recognized him at first," John's voice cracked. "Physically he will be fine." He did not know where to begin with everything else.
"What aren't you tell me?" she nervously chewed her lip, knowing there was a lot he was not saying. "What happened to you neck? When can I talk to him?"
"You can see that?" John wanted to avoid the other questions. "It might be a while before you can talk to Rodney. He's the one who did this by choking me. He thinks I tried to smother him. I've never seen him like this. It's really bad."
"Just how bad is it? Who had Mer? What did they do to him?' The rapid questions kept coming. Jeannie had to know, but she was terrified of the answers.
"We don't know who or why of why he was taken. Rodney really isn't talking. They did a lot to him. There was evidence of healed fractures and cuts and bruises all over. Carson thinks he was abused daily and I don't just mean physically and emotionally," John could not bring himself to speak of the sexual abuse.
"Don't say anymore," the horrified woman's crying got worse and it angered her that her brother's friend's failed him majorly. Part of her wanted to strangle John for the part he played in Rodney's disappearance. "You didn't lock him up for attacking you? Please say you didn't."
John was taken aback that she would even suggest that, "No. Of course not. I know I'm to blame for letting him get taken in the first place, but I wouldn't do that to him. Jennifer is with him in their quarters."
"Of course you are to blame. You should have just said no to them," the McKay in Jeannie allowed her to speak exactly what was on her mind. "I just want to know when I'll be able to see my brother."
Sheppard had to hide the pain the true words made him feel, "You are going to have to ask Jennifer about that. As of now she is the only one Rodney will talk to and let within five feet of him. I guess she is the only one he feels safe with. When I left their room, he was holding onto his wife as if his life depended on it."
The fact that her brother had his wife to help was the only thing that kept her from making the trip to Atlantis. Jeannie knew that if anyone could reach Rodney where he locked himself away in it was Jennifer. "Can you give me an update in a few days to let me know how Mer is doing?"
"I can do that," John looked up and saw his team plus Lorne gathering in the gate room below. "I have to go. We are going to investigate the planet we found Rodney on."
"Thank you, John."
John walked away from the computer and joined Ronon, Teyla and Lorne in the final preparations of mission. The team knew well enough not to ask Sheppard how Rodney was doing or how his conversation with Jeannie went. They knew it had to be bad with the marks on their leader's neck. "Let's go and make them pay," was the only words John spoke before entering the wormhole.
Once on the planet the team walked several minutes before Lorne was the first to speak, "I'm picking up one life sign two clicks to the northeast." The device he held had one blinking dot that told them they were not alone.
It did not take long for a building to come into view as the life signs detector closed in on its target. "You think that is where they had, McKay?" Ronon readied his gun preparing for anything that may surprise them.
"It's too quiet," John remarked as he kicked the door in.
"I smell blood," the Satedan's tracker sense kicked in. "Something is not right."
The tension blanketed the group, each one sensing something was off. That is when they saw it, the body at the end of the hall.
"Um...sir you better have a look at this," Evan was the first to reach the body.
"What the?" John was speechless as he looked at himself lying on the floor with a knife wound to his neck. His only thought was that Rodney's accusation made sense now, whoever was behind this wanted McKay to think his friend had attack him.
"John, you better get in here," Teyla's fearful voice came from the room to their left.
Things only got more twisted when they saw Teyla and Ronon's bodies with the same knife wounds.
"What is going on here?" Ronon did not like the idea of looking at his body, dead and on the ground.
"I don't know. I don't like this one bit." There were too many possibilities of why their doubles were lying on the ground to think about. "We should find who's here and get those answers."
More questions were raised when two more bodies were found in the next room. Their injuries were different than the rest.
"That is not possible," Teyla stared down at the beheaded body of Michael. "He is dead. He died years ago," the Athosian's blood ran cold at the possibilities.
The last body was too gruesome to look at for more than a second. The most severe mutilation was reserved for the Rodney double. Castration was the least horrific thing done to the body.
They knew how Rodney escaped, a fight to the death where their friend finally won his freedom.
"Help. Is anyone there?" A voice called from down the hall.
The four paused at looked at each other, wondering if they all heard the same voice. It was impossible. It had to be more tricks of the bizarre building they were in.
"Please, if you can hear me, I need help. My name is Dr. Elizabeth Weir."
To be continued…