Chapter 43: I saw your climb up the tower
Having Amanda for company made the waiting more bearable – it was probably another half an hour before my radio finally crackled to life simultaneous with the door shooting upwards and ending our captivity.
"Sabina, are you okay?" John's voice sent relief coursing through me.
"Yes," I replied quickly. "What about you?"
"Of course," he said casually. "Stay there - I'm only a minute away from the Library now."
"Ah, I'm not exactly in the Library anymore," I admitted reluctantly ... not that John would mind I'd come over to help Amanda. When he realised how hard I'd had to exert myself though ... well, that would be a different story.
"What?" John demanded. "The place was locked down – where the hell are you?"
"Long story," I looked at Amanda with a shrug. "When you get to the library look out the external door."
Getting up I went to my side of the doorway and waited for John to appear, motioning him over when he did.
"This wasn't here before," John announced when he got close enough.
"I made it happen," I said proudly. "Cool huh?"
"Ah I guess," John said with a confused expression. "Why didn't you just stay in the Library?"
"Because there was someone over here who needed help," I explained, grabbing his hand and drawing him fully into the room. "Amanda was caught by surprise when the bulkhead lowered – got her leg stuck under the door and was lucky enough one of the storage containers she was moving got stuck under there too. It wasn't that far away so I ah ... convinced the city to let me come over here."
"You convinced the city?" John raised an eyebrow expectantly.
"It likes me, remember?" I dismissed casually, not wanting to go into details with Amanda as a witness.
"Okay," John turned to Amanda questioningly. "How you doing there Jones?"
"Better since your wife arrived Sir," Amanda replied.
"She tends to have that affect on everyone," John quipped, shooting a teasing glance my way before he refocused on Amanda. "Well, let's get someone down here to check out that leg," he turned away and made radio contact with the control room, requesting a team come up to collect Private Jones.
I noticed immediately when he spotted the lever I'd used and worked out how I'd actually gotten Amanda free. "You levered the door up?" John asked quietly.
"I had to," I insisted defensively. "That storage box wasn't going to hold much longer – she could have lost her leg!"
"And you're still recovering from a serious chest wound!" John retorted irritably. "Did you even think about that?"
"Not really," I admitted. "I'm fine though, see?" I raised my arms out from my sides and swung them back and forth, wincing as muscles pulled uncomfortably. Seeing John's knowing look I quickly lowered my arms again and shrugged. "Okay so maybe I might have put a little more strain on myself that I should have but I really am okay."
"We'll let Jennifer be the judge of that," John used a tone that made it clear there was no point in arguing. "I'll take you there myself."
"Okay, but not until the medics get here," I insisted, acquiescing good naturedly.
We stayed until help arrived and I knew Amanda was being taken care of ... only then did I let John draw me away.
John escorted me purposefully to the infirmary where Jennifer examined me, checking both wound sites and frowning when I couldn't help but groan a little as she tested my muscles much as I'd tested them myself.
"Let's get you under the scanner," she decided thoughtfully.
I'd been in that scanner too many times over the past weeks but lay still without protest while the blue lights flashed over me. Jennifer left us alone for a few minutes to go over the results.
"I saw your climb up the tower," I told John while we waited.
"Huh?" John looked at me in surprise.
"I was checking life signs," I explained. "That's how I found Amanda. Before that though I saw one lone dot moving up the outside of the tower – that was you right?"
"It was the only way I could get up to the Control Room," John pointed out. "I'd already spotted the subspace beacon when you made contact – I tried for a few minutes to give you Rodney's password but when you didn't reply I knew it hadn't worked and I didn't think there was time for me to keep trying so I came up with a different plan."
"Yeah well at the time all I was thinking was how crazy you are and how I was gonna blast you as soon as I saw you," I admitted ruefully. "Funny thing is I don't feel like doing that anymore."
"We both did what we thought was necessary," John acknowledged in understanding.
"Sometimes the necessary comes over as insane," I added. "I don't even want to think about the risks you took today and I'm glad I didn't have to watch you do that climb in person."
"But I was good," John said smugly, obviously still very pleased with himself. "Very Spider Man. And you should have seen Lorne's face when I turned up in the Control Room. Of course I also set off the self destruct by breaching the quarantine but we had to shut off that beacon."
"How did you shut it off?" I asked curiously. John was about to answer but he didn't get the chance.
"Well Sabina," Jennifer returned with a pleased smile. "You did strain a couple of muscles but you haven't done any damage around either wound site. You'll have to ease up on your recovery program so it's set you back a few days but you're good to go."
"Thanks Doc," John spoke for both of us, grabbing my hand and helping me off the examination bed.
"You too tired to get something to eat?" John asked as we walked down the corridor.
"I am a bit tired but it's been a pretty lonely day," I told him. "I wouldn't mind some busy time in the Mess with everyone else."
We took our usual spot and were joined soon after by Teyla and Ronon and then by Radek.
I listened with delight as the story of Radek's heroics were relived, pleased to see him in the spotlight for a change. Teyla had been stuck in Rodney's lab the whole time and Ronon in the infirmary with Jennifer so they were hearing the story for the first time too.
"You crawled the entire way there in those tiny vents?" Teyla asked him incredulously.
"I'm surprised he even fit in there," Ronon commented.
"Oh, he fit, all right," John said with a smile. "There's plenty of room."
"Well, not plenty," Radek disagreed, enjoying his moments of heroic fame.
"You should have seen him," John talked it up. "He looked like one of those little hamsters in one of those ..."
"Yes, yes, yes, yes," Radek interrupted. "Listen, the important thing is I was able to make it and shut off the power in time."
"Hey, d'you hear?" Ronon turned to Teyla with an amused smirk. "McKay thought it was a real outbreak. He even started getting sick! Thought he was, um ..."
"Interesting," I thought, watching as Ronon stopped talking, his expression almost uncomfortable as he took his feet off the chair beside him. The reason became apparent when Jennifer arrived at our table with a smile.
"Hey, uh ...," It was the first time I could recall Ronon actually wanting to say something but not having the words.
"Hi," Jennifer smiled at everyone. "Mind if I join you?"
"Sure, go ahead," John invited.
Jennifer glanced at Ronon with an unreadable expression before sitting down next to him. Ronon looked uncomfortable, even more so when he noticed we were all watching him curiously.
"What?" he demanded belligerently.
"Nothin'," John glanced at me with an amused look. We were bothing thinking the same things. Ronon had a thing for Jennifer? Closely followed by - what had they gotten up to stuck in the infirmary together for so many hours?
More subtle Ronon ribbing probably would have continued but Colonel Carters' approach put an end to it.
"Well, it's been several hours now and there's no indication that anyone out there's picked up our alert beacon," she announced with a relieved smile. "I think we're in the clear."
"Well, we should keep an eye out, just in case," John advised.
"Great work, Radek," Sam complimented, patting him on the shoulder. "Everyone on this base owes you a debt of gratitude."
"Oh, thank you," Radek smiled up at her, equal parts admiration and pleasure at her attention.
"McKay would love this," John turned to me with a grin.
"Probably not," I agreed with a smile. "But it's about time someone else got the chance to show what they can do ... and it's about time Rodney got a break from always having to be the one to come up with the last minute solution."
"Yeah it certainly was different," John agreed, putting his arm around me and pulling me into his side.
oOo
Later that night when we were stretched out together, tired but not sleeping, I remembered what I'd found out about the Hologram room. For the second time something had distracted me from sharing it and I really wanted to tell John before anything else could happen.
"I found something interesting in the library," I said softly into the darkness, my head resting on John's shoulder. "Well actually I found it before M7G-677 but I never had a chance to tell you ... I forgot all about it until this morning."
"What'd you find?" John asked curiously.
"The suggestion that the Ancients had a way to talk to their ancestors," I revealed.
"Ascended ancestors?" John leaned up on an elbow and looked at me in surprise.
"If I'm reading it right, yeah," I confirmed. "It was another function of the Hologram Room – at least I think it was. Of course it probably never worked – otherwise they would have asked for help instead of abandoning the city like they did."
"Maybe they did ask for help," John suggested grimly. "The Ascended aren't exactly known for their compassion."
"I was gonna go try it out just before the quarantine happened," I admitted. "Even though I don't think anything will eventuate."
"It sounds harmless enough ... might as well give it a go," John agreed after considering the risks for a moment. "What would you say if an Ascended Ancient actually responded?"
"Now there's a scary thought," I joked. "God, I don't know! Maybe I should prepare something before I try it. No sense looking like an idiot for someone with an eternal memory!"
"Ask around, see if anyone has any burning issues only an Ascended could answer," John suggested casually.
"I might do that," I yawned widely, snuggling into John tiredly. "It was strange Rodney didn't turn up for dinner tonight."
"He had something going on this morning," John replied cryptically. "I'm guessing the quarantine had an adverse effect."
"By something I'm guessing you mean you can't tell me," I said, my curiosity roused.
"He'll tell you himself if he wants to," John returned. He yawned, running a hand almost absentmindedly down the arm I had rested over his chest until his hand covered mine.
"I guess I'll stop in on him in the morning then," I decided, getting a sleepy nod from John in reply.
oOo
"Hey Rodney," I walked into his lab early the next morning, still keen to check up on him.
"Sabina," Rodney greeted me with no obvious signs that anything was wrong.
"We missed you at the Mess last night," I commented, taking a seat across from him. "Everything okay?"
"Um ...," Rodney frowned for a moment. I watched him thinking before his shoulders slumped and he looked across at me dejectedly. "How'd you know John was the right person for you?"
"I didn't at first," I admitted, not letting my surprise at his choice of subject show. "Well, no I guess I did know but I didn't want to admit it to myself."
"Yeah but how did you know?" Rodney persisted.
"Ah ...," I thought for a moment, searching for something to explain what wasn't really explainable. "Because from day one he accepted everything about me – both good and bad," I offered. "Because he loves the real me ... I know I can be a pain sometimes but I don't think he ever sees me that way." I stopped, thinking some more before offering a blanket summary statement that explained it as best I could.
"Because I can be myself with him."
"You can be yourself," Rodney repeated sadly, nodding like he'd expected something like that.
"Is this about you and Katie?" I asked hesitantly.
"I almost asked her to marry me yesterday," Rodney admitted.
I raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You did?"
"I was going to but then the quarantine happened and I ah, I wasn't at my best and ... well, we just didn't work well together under pressure like I thought we should – nothing like you and John do. In the end I had to tell her I wasn't ready to take that step – that I needed time to work on improving myself. I showed every one of my most annoying flaws yesterday – she deserves better than that."
"Rodney," I admonished. "You can't go into a relationship resolved to hide parts of yourself like you have with Katie," I told him firmly. "You have to give her the chance to love all of you, not just the bits you think are worthy."
"Yeah well I don't think that will be happening any time soon," Rodney said weakly. "She said she wasn't ready either but ..."
"You think she was just saying that to let you off the hook," I concluded.
"I don't know ... but I'm pretty sure our relationship won't recover from this," Rodney was being negative but under the circumstances I couldn't blame him.
"Just give it time," I told him gently. "You never know how things could turn out."
"I guess," Rodney agreed reluctantly. "How'd it go for you during the quarantine?"
Respecting his desire to change the subject I told him my story plus as much as I knew of everything else that had happened on what had turned out to be a long and unusual day.
Authors Note:
Yay me! Chapters posted two days in a row! And I may be able to do another one tomorrow as well :D
I loved the episode Quarantine but found it difficult to write because I only had Sabina's POV to tell the story from ... so these past two chapters don't feel as exciting and interesting as the show but hopefully still do it some justice. I deliberately changed the timing of when John would have needed Rodney's password to after he discovered the subspace beacon was broadcasting – because it didn't make sense they could see what was locked down and all the life signs and practically everything else without Rodney's password but not that a subspace beacon was broadcasting. Why? I could understand not being able to mess with things set off by the quarantine so needing a password to turn off the beacon, but not just to see what each system was doing.
And yes I am aware Sheppard references Batman in the episode but seriously, climbing up a tower like that is totally Spider Man! And how good was that? One of my fav John Sheppard moments *big grin*.
Next Up? Fortunate Journey Season 4 Chapter 44 ... it's Harmony! I know what you're thinking? How WILL she handle the little brat?! LOL