White or Black
Mar. 10th, 2005 07:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zanSo, I've been reading Stargate: Atlantis fanfic. Had a burst of inspiration during work. This is part of that. It may end up being part of a series. If it is, it won't be until eleven stories in. A fic per episode.
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Disclaimer: None of this is mine. Except the situation. And the evil McKay wandering around my subconscious. If you want your own characters, go hunt out RDA.
Note: This is set just after The Eye. Slight spoilers for The Storm.
“So how’s our patient, Doc?” Major John Sheppard walked into the room and grinned at the sight in front of him. Rodney McKay was lying on one of the med tables, dressed in the red scrubs that all patients seem to magically acquire, grumbling and muttering in the general direction of the nearest nurse.
“Hey, Major. You here to get me out?”
“You willnae do any such thing, Major,” said a voice behind Sheppard. “You leave him there. He still needs to finish up that IV treatment.”
Sheppard turned around and saw Dr. Beckett walk in from his office. The man looked tired and frazzled. Unsurprising, given the recent events. It had been a tough few days for everyone.
“I guess I’ll just stick around until he’s done, then,” Sheppard said, pulling a chair up next to McKay. Dr. Beckett just nodded sleepily and went back into his office.
“Well, if you’re not going to help me escape, what use are you,” McKay said, glaring at Sheppard. He made shooing motions at the nurse hovering over him and she just chuckled and kept working, bandaging up his arm. When she was finished, she gave him a stern warning about leaving before the antibotics had finished their run and then left to go look in on other patients.
“I bring amusement,” Sheppard offered, pulling out a travel backgammon set. “I blackmailed Kavanagh into giving it to me. Poor bastard actually thinks he’s getting it back.” That got a laugh and Sheppard pulled a table over and started setting up the board.
“Hey, Major?” McKay’s voice, for once, was quiet. Almost soft. And Sheppard’s usual response to anything McKay said, a flippant grin and a sarcastic comment, was replaced by a slight cock of the head.
“Yeah? What’s up?”
The words were tormented and heartfelt as McKay listed each of his supposed mistakes during the storm, beginning and ending with telling Kolya everything he needed to know about the plan to save the city. Something, he said, that had almost led to Elizabeth’s death.
Sheppard stared at him for a long moment before a small smile appeared on his face. “We all break, McKay. I’ve done it, too. And I lost a hell of a lot more than a few drops of blood,” he said, nodding to the bandage on McKay’s arm. “What matters is that you held back the important parts. The parts that really could have gotten both you and her killed.”
“Sure, Major,” McKay said, looking down blankly at the board. “You say that now. What would you have said if this so-called genius brain of mine hadn’t cracked like a raw egg?”
“Do you know what I asked myself? I was trying to come up with a way to get rid of the teams that Kolya had sent against me. I couldn’t think of anything. Then I wondered what you would do.”
“Oh, please. I’m not looking for—“
“No. Really. Because you’re always the one that comes up with the idea that manages to save the day. You’re the one that puts two and two together and comes up with fourteen and it’s the perfectly natural result. When you think about it, I’m sure every single person both here and on the mainland owe you their lives. That’s a heady thing to think about. And if you do, as you say, crack like an egg, it’s not the end of the world. You’re alive, she’s alive, Teyla, Ford, me. We’re all alive. The city’s still up and running. I think Superman is allowed to have a moment of weakness.”
He waited a minute and watched the words sink in. Pain and doubt were mixed with hope and strength. Slowly, a small grin replaced the frown that had been McKay’s predominate feature.
“So you do think I’m Superman.” Sheppard’s smile was replaced by a teasing glare.
“Shut up and choose. White or black?”
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Disclaimer: None of this is mine. Except the situation. And the evil McKay wandering around my subconscious. If you want your own characters, go hunt out RDA.
Note: This is set just after The Eye. Slight spoilers for The Storm.
“So how’s our patient, Doc?” Major John Sheppard walked into the room and grinned at the sight in front of him. Rodney McKay was lying on one of the med tables, dressed in the red scrubs that all patients seem to magically acquire, grumbling and muttering in the general direction of the nearest nurse.
“Hey, Major. You here to get me out?”
“You willnae do any such thing, Major,” said a voice behind Sheppard. “You leave him there. He still needs to finish up that IV treatment.”
Sheppard turned around and saw Dr. Beckett walk in from his office. The man looked tired and frazzled. Unsurprising, given the recent events. It had been a tough few days for everyone.
“I guess I’ll just stick around until he’s done, then,” Sheppard said, pulling a chair up next to McKay. Dr. Beckett just nodded sleepily and went back into his office.
“Well, if you’re not going to help me escape, what use are you,” McKay said, glaring at Sheppard. He made shooing motions at the nurse hovering over him and she just chuckled and kept working, bandaging up his arm. When she was finished, she gave him a stern warning about leaving before the antibotics had finished their run and then left to go look in on other patients.
“I bring amusement,” Sheppard offered, pulling out a travel backgammon set. “I blackmailed Kavanagh into giving it to me. Poor bastard actually thinks he’s getting it back.” That got a laugh and Sheppard pulled a table over and started setting up the board.
“Hey, Major?” McKay’s voice, for once, was quiet. Almost soft. And Sheppard’s usual response to anything McKay said, a flippant grin and a sarcastic comment, was replaced by a slight cock of the head.
“Yeah? What’s up?”
The words were tormented and heartfelt as McKay listed each of his supposed mistakes during the storm, beginning and ending with telling Kolya everything he needed to know about the plan to save the city. Something, he said, that had almost led to Elizabeth’s death.
Sheppard stared at him for a long moment before a small smile appeared on his face. “We all break, McKay. I’ve done it, too. And I lost a hell of a lot more than a few drops of blood,” he said, nodding to the bandage on McKay’s arm. “What matters is that you held back the important parts. The parts that really could have gotten both you and her killed.”
“Sure, Major,” McKay said, looking down blankly at the board. “You say that now. What would you have said if this so-called genius brain of mine hadn’t cracked like a raw egg?”
“Do you know what I asked myself? I was trying to come up with a way to get rid of the teams that Kolya had sent against me. I couldn’t think of anything. Then I wondered what you would do.”
“Oh, please. I’m not looking for—“
“No. Really. Because you’re always the one that comes up with the idea that manages to save the day. You’re the one that puts two and two together and comes up with fourteen and it’s the perfectly natural result. When you think about it, I’m sure every single person both here and on the mainland owe you their lives. That’s a heady thing to think about. And if you do, as you say, crack like an egg, it’s not the end of the world. You’re alive, she’s alive, Teyla, Ford, me. We’re all alive. The city’s still up and running. I think Superman is allowed to have a moment of weakness.”
He waited a minute and watched the words sink in. Pain and doubt were mixed with hope and strength. Slowly, a small grin replaced the frown that had been McKay’s predominate feature.
“So you do think I’m Superman.” Sheppard’s smile was replaced by a teasing glare.
“Shut up and choose. White or black?”
