XII.
NORMAN
Conspiracy. Mutiny the whole base stank of those two words, it was disgusting but as long as there was no evidence, at least no proper evidence, then his hands was tied and it pissed him off. It was three days since the shower incident and he was still seething. Of course all those complaints that had been raining in all day and the day before had not helped raise his mood at all.
Norman was walking down the corridors in the dark, it was late and most people were already asleep. It suited him fine; right now he did not feel like running into any insolent soldiers or snobbish doctors thinking they know best. Installing that curfew had been a very good idea. He had been sitting in his office in front of the camera screens for hours but nothing valuable had come up, although had Mitchell stayed one minute longer inside of Sheppard's room he probably could have made something out of it but being about half an hour inside someone else's room when you have a stack of papers with you was not that suspicious especially as Mitchell and Sheppard were supposedly the highest authorities on Atlantis. What made him even more annoyed was the fact that Lorne seemed hell bent on avoiding all cameras. It was as if the shorter man had turned into a ghost, never being seen for more than a few seconds on any camera whether it was in the infirmary or in the mess hall.
Taking a detour Norman headed for the gate room, it was empty of people and the only light came from the small windows high up on the walls.
"Well isn't this a lovely surprise."
Norman turned around ready to shout at whoever it was that was violating the curfew rule, but he stopped just before he was about to open his mouth when he came face to face with Sheppard. A somewhat different Sheppard, this man was standing ramrod straight, his hands clasped behind him back and a cold glint in his eyes, his face completely void of any emotions. It sent a chill down Norman's back and he had to fight the urge to take a step back. For the first time since he arrived on Atlantis he felt threatened.
"Breaking the rules again I see," said Norman his voice a bit shaky.
"Me breaking the rules should be the least of your concerns right now Norman."
He could feel cold sweat break out all over his body, something about the way Sheppard looked at him, how his hand rested on the hilt of his gun and that cold voice made Norman fear for his own safety.
"You can't hurt me Sheppard, you'd get court marshaled and fired they'll throw you in a cell in Area 51!"
Norman did not get further before he could hear a swooshing sound and then suddenly he felt how the Stargate moved behind him.
"What're you doing?!"
"Doing? Oh don't worry about that Norman, I only did some minor adjustments when I saw you walking this way, after all this is the Pegasus Galaxy and if you aren't prepared then it'll leave you battered and bruised, this isn't some vacation spot in Spain, this is the real world. I won't have to touch you to hurt you because the Pegasus
Galaxy will do it for me," said Sheppard his lips quirking up into a smirk.
Norman watched with growing horror as Sheppard drew his gun, taking off the safety switch, his hand steady the gun aimed straight at Norman's head.
"Y-You're crazy!" shouted Norman.
"Everyone here is a bit crazy; I'm just not as forgiving as some other people."
"Are you going to shoot me?"
"No," said Sheppard with a small laugh, "didn't I just tell you? I'll let this galaxy take care of you. Step through the ring Norman."
"N-no!"
"It wasn't a request. Have you ever been shot before? I have, it's not very nice I'll tell you that. Step through the ring or I will shoot you and I can promise you Norman, I never miss."
His whole body was shaking and he was sweating so much that Norman was sure you could see it through his clothes. Never in his life had he felt so afraid, this man in front of him was not a human, Sheppard was a lunatic a crazy raving lunatic. Taking a step backwards, Norman tried to think of something that would get him out of this situation but he could not come up with anything, his whole mind had gone blank.
BANG! A bullet whistled past his left ear, so close that he could feel the heat from it making him take another step backwards in surprise. He had to admit he had not expected Sheppard to use the gun.
"Don't make me wait Norman, I don't have all day."
Norman could not believe this, he had two days left in this hell hole and now this was happening? Grinding his teeth together he did not keep going backwards. He was not going to go through the gate and certainly not when it was not back to earth he was heading.
"I won't do it."
"Oh believe me you will."
Norman did not have much time think before he felt a hand taking an iron grip around his neck, forcing him through the gate. Stumbling through Norman did not have the time to catch himself on the other side before he was laying face first in the dirt. Opening his eyes, Norman was met with darkness. He was standing on a field, it was night and the wind was chilly.
"Welcome to the planet YS9-445, or better known as the nightmare planet." Norman flinched when he heard Sheppard's emotionless voice not far from his right ear. He had not even heard the other man come through the gate.
"Want to know why it's called that?" asked Sheppard in a hushed voice filled with malice, "It's because in the air there's a pollen that makes you hallucinate about bad things, monsters and ghosts about a lot of things actually and it's not pretty I can promise you that."
Norman could feel the panic rise in his chest, for every word that spilled out from the Colonel's mouth. His body was frozen to the spot and he could feel his breath catch in his throat making it hard for him to breath. He had heard of the planet but had not cared to store it in his memory as at the time he had not thought of it as important.
At first when they stood there in the dark he did not notice the mist but with every passing minute the mist grew ticker, moving around as if it was alive. It gripped after him, coiling around him like a snake. Emitting a high pitched scream Norman felt his blood run cold, what he had thought to be mist was a real life snake. He could feel how it wrapped its thick body around his neck squeezing the life out of him.
"Get it off!" screamed Norman trying to pull the snake away.
"Don't worry Norman, it's just your imagination, although it does feel real doesn't it?"
"I don't care just get it off me!"
"But I can't my dear fellow; I can't see whatever it is you're seeing." There was enough malice in Sheppard's voice to feed every single child in Africa.
Norman was not sure if it was all in his head or if Sheppard for every passing minute turned more monster like. Those dark eyes, turning charcoal black, pale skin turning even paler, it was as if the Air Force pilot was slowly becoming a demon.
"W-Why are…?" Stuttered Norman.
"Why am I not affected by the pollen?" Norman could only nod, "my dear Norman, I took precautions of course, like I did with the gate, without my ICD or special code I installed you won't be able to get off this planet."
Norman watched with growing horror as crazy Sheppard stepped forwards towards him, his gun still in his hand, ready to use it at any given moment.
"If I were you, I'd start to run, because you never know what's real here and what's not."
He could barely listen to Sheppard, his mind was blurry and he was not sure what he was seeing, if it was real or not. Claw like hands was reaching out for him, voices whispered in his head and in front of him was a demon standing, cold and unforgiving looking at him with dead eyes.
His whole body was shaking by now, taking a step backwards Norman tripped over a small stone sending him falling towards the ground. He fell with a thud but somehow could not get his legs to move, and so stayed on the ground. It took him all his willpower to even regain his breath and then he felt his legs come back to him, bugs were crawling all over the ground towards him.
Running, running faster than he had ever done before, Norman did not dare look back but wherever he turned the black eyed demon seemed to follow, lazily walking soundlessly through the forest, a long sword in his hand, the blade dripping with blood. The night air was chilly, even the moon seemed against him shining brightly above him making it impossible for him to hide.
"Oh Norman where are you~?"
"AAHHH! Stay away from me! I mean it! I swear to god Sheppard I'll have you court marshaled for this!" screamed Norman squeezing his eyes shut.
"But little Norman, there's no one here to help you; there's just you and me. Aren't you having fun Norman? I'm having loads of fun," whispered The Voice softly in his ear blowing warm air into his ear.
"No!"
"Oh yes! Keep on running; I like it when they run. Small humans running away from me, thinking they're so clever but no one is cleverer than me!"
"I don't deserve this!"
"But my little Norman, haven't you heard life isn't fair? Oh no, life is cruel and vile, and humans are the worst of them all, and because of that you'll suffer because you're no better than the rest of those cruel creators thinking they're so almighty and strong."
Stumbling Norman fell to his knees, panting heavily the heavy fog that had covered the moon just a few minutes ago making it impossible for him to see anything was slowly lifting and when he opened his eyes he felt like puking. He was sitting on the edge of a very deep cliff, at first he could not believe his eyes when he looked down and then his vision cleared he could not keep the scream that tore itself from his throat at bay. Deep down at the bottom lay hundreds of dead people, skeletons lay scattered everywhere, human remains. He could hear The Voice laughing behind him, that melodic sound that passed through him like a Arctic wind.
"See? No one gets away from me, and neither will you."
"No! I'm not supposed to die yet!"
"What? You're too young to die? I'll tell you a secret my dear Norman," said The Voice and suddenly Norman felt a body press up against his and The Voice in his ear, "No one is too young to die, Norman, because, in the end we'll all die some peacefully and some not so peacefully."
Before he had the time to say or do anything he felt a pair of hands on his back pushing him. Laughter echoed behind him when he fell, his scream filled with terror rang in his ears. Everything stilled when he fell, the laughter disappeared and suddenly the air did not feel as chilly and then he knew no more as the darkness took him.
JOHN
Spending time in his office was never fun, but that night, John was not sure why, it felt soothing to sit there among all the papers and files. His room was a bit chilly and without Cam there not very whole either and so it was easier to spend some time in his overly stuffed office where at least he did not think of his partner all the time. It was easier to distract oneself with work than with sitting down staring at a wall or trying to read.
Right now his thoughts were all directed towards Fields, he knew he had promised Cam not to any bodily harm to the man but on the same time he knew he could not keep to the plan they had made earlier, especially as they were running out of days. Fields had been surprisingly resilient, even though he had a whole base against him, then again, everything that had been done had strictly followed the PG rated rules that had been placed on the scheme.
In the end John was not sure what it was that made him think of his Father, Patrick Sheppard the man who never allowed failure, the man who put brain so far above brawns that it was insane. John still remembered his Father's favorite subject when he lectured John about being stupid or not good enough of a son. Patrick would sit behind his mahogany desk and look at him with those steel eyes, "Brawns mean nothing if you can't get into close range with someone, brains is what will get you out of any situation, John. Anyone can kill but not everyone can orchestrate it so that they don't get caught. Because in politics you don't have to touch someone else to hurt them, you only have to get them through words. Bruises fade and disappear, wounds heal but words always stick, printed and published you'll never get rid of them, they'll always be there reminding someone of their failures. So son, I don't want to see you in anymore fights, if you fight use your brain not your brawns, is it understood?"
John could not help but smile, for once in his life he could admit his Father was right about something. If he could not hurt Fields physically then he could hurt him mentally, and after all, there are worse things than death. He could slowly feel the wheels in his head turning, coming up with a plan. Leaning back into his chair, John let the familiar feeling of Atlantis' presence wash over him, not many knew but he could talk with Atlantis, she was always there like a hum in the back of his head. It did not take long to figure out where Fields was and in a way things could not have played out better in his head even if he had tried. Standing up he left his office, right now he had no time to waste, if he hesitated so much as a second he would miss his opportunity and that was not something he wanted.
For the first time since the curfew had been installed, John did not mind it because it made moving around Atlantis so much easier than if people would be wandering around. It did not take long for him to get from his office to the control room. It was dark and all computers were off, sitting down by one of them John got to work. It was not hard to get into the system and change a few things, although he was sure not to mess up some of Rodney's more complicated stuff as although John was not bad with computers he still was no Rodney McKay and he really had no wish to piss his friend off by messing up the computer programs.
Using the monitors John kept track of Fields who, luckily was heading for the gate room for some odd reason as he usually avoided the said room like the plague. Making the last installments on the computer John shut it down and hurried down to the medical supply room. As the second highest in command on Atlantis he had the key codes to all rooms and storages on Atlantis making this so much easier than if he had had to break into the high security vault that they kept everything from morphine to some of the stronger medicine that was not supposed to be easily accessed by any random person.
"Bottoms up John," whispered John to himself when he found the small bottle he was looking for.
The dark liquid tasted weird on his tongue and it made him feel a bit nauseous for a minute before the feeling went away. Pocketing the bottle John started to head back towards the gate room.
Walking as quietly as possible, John stopped a few meters from Fields who was standing with his back towards the entrance to the room. At first he just stood there, still enough that he kind of melted into the darkness that covered the room. John closed his eyes whilst he took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for what was to come, because right now he would have to become the Sheppard he feared but on the same time embraced in hard situations, and the emotional coldness that came with it. When you did not feel, doing things that was unethical became so much easier than when your conscience was there to remind you of it.
"Well isn't this a lovely surprise," said John stepping out from where he had been standing in the shadows.
He could not help but take immense pleasure in seeing emotions like fear and surprise flash across Fields' face when they stood there only a few meters apart.
"Breaking the rules again I see," said Norman his voice a bit shaky.
"Me breaking the rules should be the least of your concerns right now Norman."
John could not help but fantasize over Fields' demise. He had hundreds of different painful methods of how to get rid of Fields dancing around in his head; unfortunately he would have to be a bit nicer than that. His hand was resting comfortably on his gun, fingers clasping and unclasping the safety hook that kept the gun in place.
"You can't hurt me Sheppard, you'd get court marshaled and fired they'll throw you in a cell in Area 51!" shrieked Fields taking a small step backwards.
This in hindsight probably was not Fields' best idea as just at that moment the Stargate activated itself. John had to admit he had not expected it to work out that well, not that he had much time to be happy about it as Fields' started to shout again. He was lucky that the gate room was so far away from the sleeping quarters or else everyone would have been awake by now, listening to the shrill noises Fields' was making.
"Doing? Oh don't worry about that Norman, I only did some minor adjustments when I saw you walking this way, after all this is the Pegasus Galaxy and if you aren't prepared then it'll leave you battered and bruised, this isn't some vacation spot in Spain, this is the real world. I won't have to touch you to hurt you because the Pegasus Galaxy will do it for me," said John not able to keep the slight stress on Fields' first name away as the man always stressed peoples' titles or names in that unpleasant manner of his.
Drawing his gun, John almost laughed when he watched Fields' somewhat scared expression turn downright frightened his eyes almost bulging out of his head and his face turning white. It was such a big difference from the usual self-absorbed and haughty look Fields' usually wore on his face but John had to admit that he liked this one better.
"Y-You're crazy!" John actually laughed at that statement.
"Everyone here is a bit crazy; I'm just not as forgiving as some other people."
Field's eyes flickered between John's face and his hand holding the gun, as if he was not sure which one he was supposed to concentrate on.
"Are you going to shoot me?" asked Fields' nervously licking his lips.
"No," said John with a small laugh, "didn't I just tell you? I'll let this galaxy take care of you. Step through the ring Norman."
He motioned with his free hand towards the gate, the blue liquid making the room look a lot brighter than it actually was.
"N-no!" John sighed quietly but did not let his frustration at the man show.
"It wasn't a request. Have you ever been shot before? I have, it's not very nice I'll tell you that. Step through the ring or I will shoot you and I can promise you Norman, I never miss."
John wanted to end with a pathetic but held his tongue. Fields' was already shaking like a leaf, sweating a disgusting amount of sweat and looking like he was going to have a heart attack at any given moment. And to think that they had not even gotten to the fun part yet. Without so much as a second thought John pulled the trigger, the bullet soaring through the air and lodging itself into the wall behind Fields who ready to piss himself in fright.
"Don't make me wait Norman, I don't have all day," said John making sure to look the other man straight in the eyes as he spoke.
He did not have time, right of now some of Rodney's sensors or scans or whatever should have gone off when he fired the gun and then our favorite Canadian would of course notice that something was wrong with the computers, John estimated that he had max ten to fifteen minutes before someone would notice what he was doing.
"I won't do it." The last stand of defiance.
"Oh believe me you will," snarled John.
It was ridiculously easy to force Fields' through the gate, watching the other man stumble and almost falling face first into the dirt on the other side was just a bonus. Leaning forward John was close enough to be able to whisper into Fields' ear.
"Welcome to the planet YS9-445, or better known as the nightmare planet. Want to know why it's called that? It's because in the air there's a pollen that makes you hallucinate about bad things, monsters and ghosts about a lot of things actually and it's not pretty I can promise you that," said John with malice in his voice.
Frightening Fields was almost too easy, so easy in fact that it made him a bit disappointed. Here he had barely done anything and the man in front of him was already shaking in his boots, almost crying probably ready to beg for mercy if given the chance. Not that it was an opinion at this time and it would never become an option either if John had anything to say about it, which he at the moment and quite a lot too.
Waiting for the pollen in the air to kick in, John stood in front of the gate to make sure Fields would not try a mad dash towards the gate and back to Atlantis, his gun safely in his hand. His back was straight and his eyes focused on the floppy shape still kneeling on the ground trying to get up. It was actually kind of entertaining to watch. What was not as entertaining to watch, or well entertaining for the ears was the high pitch shriek that tore from Fields' when the pollen started to work.
"Get it off!" screamed Norman waiving his hands around as if he was trying to pull something off himself.
"Don't worry Norman, it's just your imagination, although it does feel real doesn't it?" John could not help goading the disgusting excuse for a man.
"I don't care just get it off me!"
"But I can't my dear fellow; I can't see whatever it is you're seeing," said John with a certain glee.
"W-Why are…?" Stuttered Norman.
"Why am I not affected by the pollen? My dear Norman, I took precautions of course, like I did with the gate, without my ICD or special code I installed you won't be able to get off this planet."
In a way it was kind of useless to tell the man any of this but on the same time in the end it would not matter. He could tell Fields his whole life story and it would not matter because in the end the other man would not remember any of it and even if he did remember it would not make a difference because of the pollen. John really had to ask the planet for forgiveness, when they found it he had not thought it would be useful for anything else but making people mad or make trouble but now it came very much in handy.
"Wow… somehow I'd pegged him for a faster runner… well at least I won't have to strain myself."
Half the time John had a hard time keeping the laughter at bay and the other half there were just no words to describe how pathetic Fields looked when he ran around in the small forest. Minutes stretched into hours but the darkness did not falter, because of the pollen in the air and the placement of the planet, the nights were much longer than the days, making it a good place to do this. John did not have to do much, although the forest was not big, Fields kept on moving in circles all by himself never getting closer to the edge of the forest and even if he had done it, it would not have been hard for John to get the man back in.
Listening to the whining and the shrieking, John could not help but get close once in a while whispering into Fields' ear, making the man panic even more than he already was. Humming the Teletubbies song and then moving on towards the care bears opening theme, John sat down on a tree stump watching the now hysterically screaming, jumping between death threats and unintelligent wailing Norman Fields. While he sat there counting minutes and hours, John had time to think his mind wandering to the new coffee that would be arriving with the Daedalus. He had not gotten proper coffee in almost a month and it was not a good thing, instead he had had to be satisfied with the java bean that they traded with a few planets in exchange for medicine and agricultural advice. Their black market, containing condoms, lube, coffee and chocolate had slowly been fading away and in return the prices had skyrocketed.
Maybe now when Fields would be leaving it would once again be easier to get stuff into Atlantis, when there was no snobbish uptight jackass standing with a clipboard in his hand going through everything that came into the city even all the personal things that were sent to the individual person. It was infuriating and seriously annoying, and John was just happy he never had to deal with it; the same could not be said about Major Lorne, Lieutenant Heart and Lieutenant St. Pierce who usually took care of the task of listing everything that crossed in between the Daedalus and Atlantis.
Munching on an apple he had found on the ground, John watched as Fields once again reappeared in his peripheral vision before he stood up and slowly started to steer his enemy towards the small cliff. It was starting to get late and he needed to get back home before his well laid out plan turned to dust. John was very aware that Rodney would already know that something was going and that the PhD Doctor would have gone straight to Cam, and he knew his partner would not be happy. At which level of angriness Cam would be on was on the other and a completely different question, and a question John was not overly eagerly waiting for a reply to. Then again, there was the chance that Cam was not angry at all, but really the chance was so small that John did not even entertain the thought long enough to think about it.
"AAAAAHH!" THUMPH.
"Too young to die, huh? Really Norman how naïve can you be?" said John with a sigh.
For a moment John just stood there watching the collapsed body in the small trench that runs through the whole forest. It was not overly deep, if you stood in it, it barely came up to your knees and if you were tall like Ronon then not even that far up. John actually could not help but giggle when he watched Fields crumbled body lying awkwardly in the ditch.
"Better get to work Johnny boy or else you'll be here the whole night…"
Dragging the body through the forest back to the gate took a bit more time than John had first thought as Fields weighted a bit more than he had expected. Huffing and puffing in a much undignified manner, John tried not to think on the sweat rolling down his back. Fields really was an inconvenience.
"Time to see how much shit has hit the fan," murmured John before he stepped through the gate hauling Fields behind him.
STARGATE: ATLANITS
He had been right about Cam being angry or at least disappointed. When he stepped through the gate dragging Fields unconscious body behind him, John had been met by Cam, Rodney and Carson or well the clone Carson not the real Carson because that would just have been weird. Major Lorne was standing on the side, John almost missed him if it was not for Rodney who every other minute switched his concentration between John and Lorne.
John tried his best not to meet Cam's eyes, but it was hard as his gaze always kind of drifted towards Cam's face and his eyes. It really took a lot of self-control on John's part not to flinch when he came face to face with his partner.
"You. My. Office. Now," ordered Cam looking straight at John before turned to the others in the room "Doctor Beckett, McKay take Fields to the infirmary and make sure that
no one sees him, after that come to my office."
Taking a deep breath John dumped Fields' body on the floor, not caring that because of his grip on the unconscious man's shirt, Fields hit his head on the way down. Cam was walking about one step behind him and John could feel the stiffness that was radiating off his lover. A steady hand was resting on his lower back, gentle enough not to feel suffocating but still steady enough to make sure he could not get away.
Those three minutes of silence, between the door being slammed shut behind the two of them, and Cam starting to talk were nerve wracking.
"What were you thinking?! I mean seriously John, you promised me!"
"I didn't kill him…"
"No you didn't but that wasn't what I was talking about! What would I've done if you'd have gotten hurt, huh? Or what if Fields have done something?"
"But he didn't."
"I know but that's not why I'm angry John," said Cam with a defeated sigh, "I love you John and that means I don't want you to get hurt or take unnecessary risks, like what you did tonight. I swear my heart stopped when McKay woke me up telling me that you had gone all Lone Ranger on Fields."
"A Lone Ranger?" John could not help but snort at that.
"Yeah, a Lone Ranger, my lone ranger," murmured Cam taking a step forward closing in on John.
"Okay that's enough! No more PDA while we've got stuff to do!"
"Rodney, have I told you that your timing sucks?" said John with a sigh sitting down in one of the chairs.
"Yeah yeah, I've heard that one before Mr. I do things my own way."
As everyone was inside and seated comfortable, John knew they needed to get things rolling. People were already waking up and in a few hours the whole city would be alive with activity. People on the base were loyal, everyone had already made it very clear in their actions and silence but it was still better that as few as possible knew about what really had transpired that night.
"Well, our dear IOA member is sleeping or well… he's happily knocked out and probably won't wake up for a few hours, I can't say what kind of effects the pollen will have had on him until he wakes, he may be all right but he may also not be fine," said Carson.
"Good. How many except for us know about this?" asked Cam.
"Two nurses that are watching Fields right now," came the answer from the M.D.
"And Doctor Warner," butted Rodney in.
"Of course… Okay, there's approximately 36 hours until he's to leave Atlantis, any ideas what to do?"
"Well already if the pollen has messed up his head we're one step ahead of him as the IOA won't be able to use his reports, right?" said Rodney one hand on Evan's knee the other one waiving around like his hands usually does when he talks.
It is actually kind of funny watching Rodney talk without hearing his voice, because he always showed exactly what he thought on his face, the way he raised his eyebrows to the eye rolls or how his hands moved around hitting anyone that came too close.
"I've got an idea." It was Evan who spoke.
Had it not been for Rodney's very obvious hand then John probably would have forgotten that Major Lorne was in the room as he was so quiet.
"The program you installed made sure it wiped out all gate activity from this night, right Colonel?" John nodded, "and very few know about it? So obviously, it's like with murder, no body no crime. If we say nothing happened then nothing happened, as long as there's no physical evidence that something happened which means no one can prove than anything have happened."
It took a moment for the words to sink into John's brain but when they did he had to grin, looking around the others seemed to consider the idea as a possibility.
"I like it," said John.
"So do I," admitted Rodney thoughtfully, "I think if we play this right then I could get Henley to somehow fix all those reports that were sent in these past days onto his computer, making it look like he's been trying to cover them up or erase them, that way his credibility will be lost. So even if the pollen would not have done anything to him then he'll still not get away with what he's done."
Everyone nodded their consent, not that there was much else to do; they did not have much time to come up with a plan or to execute it. Not that John was complaining, this was it, they would finally be rid of Fields and that was all that mattered at the moment.
"You do that McKay; just make sure there's no tracing it back to anything okay?" said Cam standing up from his chair behind his desk looking at everyone, "this is it people, let's hope this little scheme works or else we're screwed."
"We've been screwed since the day that slime ball arrived, we'll manage." John had to smirk at Rodney's choice of words, but his friend was right, they had been in worse situations and survived.
"Whatever, just get going already, if we don't want to start explaining to people why we're having a meeting at four a.m. in my office," said Cam shooing everyone out.
John's departure from the room was followed by a slap on his ass, maybe a bit sharper than what Cam usually would have given him but John did not care. Blowing Cam a kiss, John headed for his bed, if he was lucky then he would be able to catch an hour of sleep maybe even two.
STARGATE: ATLANTIS
It was funny how fast rumors started and travelled around the city. At least when it came to stuff like this, but John had to admit that it was fun listening to all the different stories about how Fields really ended up in the infirmary. The official story was that he had touched something ancient that lead to him getting knocked out but of course no one really believed it.
There was only a day left before Fields would be gone, and everything even remembering of him was being rapidly taken down, every camera, announcement and attendance board was slowly filling the trash cans. This would probably not be happening if it was not for the fact that Fields was almost totally mush in his head, not knowing what was going on around him. Although it was sad, John could not find it in himself to feel bad for the useless man. If there was an emotion he was feeling stronger than the rest then that was exhilaration, they would finally after two months give or take a few days be rid of their tormentor.
Maybe he would need to check up on his liquor to make sure that nothing of it was missing, because when it came to celebrations and booze then no one's hiding place was safe, some of those scientists really had noses like bloodhounds sniffing out every last drop that was hidden away in safe places all over the city. Perhaps if he bribed Warner he could get her to find a few of those places if he would find himself short of a few bottles, not that it happened often, John could proudly say that he had found some of the best hiding spots in the city, of course, having access to every part of Atlantis did also help.
"Sir?"
"What is it Lorne?" asked John, watching the shorter man standing in front of him.
"Thank you sir," said Lorne smiling softly.
"You're welcome." John could not help but smile too; he was not the only one feeling the pressure slowly disappearing.
Reviews? Anyone?