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starrylizard Jun. 9th, 2006 11:19 pm)
starrylizard Jun. 9th, 2006 11:19 pm)Title: Trio
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
starrylizard
Characters: McKay (Cadman)/Sheppard
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: NC17+
Spoilers: Duet
Notes: This was written for the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
artword challenge 006A – remix challenge and is a remix of the S2 episode Duet. Thank you kindly to celtic_sky for the beta and to _wwsd_ for many plotty ideas and encouragement!
Summary: His eyes glinted pure green in the backlit room, but it was the genuine smile that lit his face which made her breath catch and her stomach flutter, until she remembered whose body it was that she was in. Suddenly, a lot of things fell into place.
Also check out the lovely poster from my artistic partner for the challenge,_wwsd_.
Rodney strolled through the empty fields, happy for the slow pace, as he talked to Doctor Beckett and Lieutenant Cadman. The planet was completely deserted. Anyone who survived the recent culling must have left through the Stargate; assuming there were any survivors at all. This whole mission was a bust and he was just looking forward to getting home and putting his feet up; maybe working on his latest paper.
“So Rodney, why did you turn Katie down? She’s really nice and heaven knows why she was interested, but you could have let her down little more sensitively. Maybe you should make it up to her with some flowers?” Cadman bent down to pick one of the yellow wildflowers as she spoke, turning back slightly to look at Rodney.
“I wasn’t interested and I told her so. I don’t see what’s wrong with that.”
“What’s this now? You were asked on a date, Rodney, by a woman?” Beckett’s face lit up in a broad grin.
“She just asked me over for dinner and I humbly declined…and yes with a woman! I can’t help it if my raw animal magnetism and genius charm draws in the ladies.” Rodney’s smug smile made Cadman giggle and Beckett exchanged a knowing look with her.
Rodney huffed. “How did you know about that anyway?”
“Girls poker night. I know a lot of things McKay. Anyway, I was only suggesting you might want to pick some flowers.”
“This is inappropriate field conversation. How about you just do your job, which is to protect us?”
A distinctive insect-like hum was drawing nearer, but McKay was too busy ranting to hear it; Cadman was a little more alert.
“Shut up, McKay.”
“Don’t tell me to shut up…”
“Just be quiet.” Cadman keyed her radio. “Colonel Sheppard, be advised we’ve got a dart incoming.
She glanced up. “Move it, guys.”
Cadman gave Rodney a shove, but he’d only just started to run when the dart was suddenly very close. He heard Cadman tell them to scatter and then it was right over the top of them and all he could think was I’m going to die before his senses were overwhelmed by the sound of the dart and a brilliant bright white light.
0OOOO0
Cadman came to, looking at Dr Beckett. She couldn’t remember opening her eyes, but she supposed she must have done so. Everything felt weird, disjointed - like floating on a cloud - and she could only surmise it was the effect of the Wraith transporter beam or some of the infirmary drugs. Either way, she didn’t like the feeling very much. She realized her hearing wasn’t working either, since Dr Beckett’s mouth was moving but she couldn’t hear him. But as she thought about it some more his voice started to filter through. “…glad to see you’re doing well.”
“Hello, Dr Beckett.” Carson was standing right in front of her.
“Is that Cadman?” The voice was McKay’s and it sounded really close, but she couldn’t see the grumpy Canadian scientist anywhere.
“Dr McKay?”
“Where is she?”
“I’m right here.” What did he mean, where was she? Where was he?
“Lieutenant Cadman is still trapped inside the dart,” Beckett replied.
“What?”
“Who said that?” McKay could obviously hear her.
“I did. I said Cadman is still trapped in the dart.” Beckett was beginning to look slightly alarmed.
By the time McKay waved his hands in front of his eyes and she had seen it as if they were her own eyes, Laura Cadman was decidedly freaked out! She was somehow trapped inside Rodney’s body. There was no way this could end well.
0OOOO0
“I am telling you, these calculations are wrong. Having two consciousnesses in one brain must be very taxing. You are making mistakes.”
Zelenka had yelled at him and he’d had every right to. It wasn’t his fault though. He dared anyone to try working with Cadman asking questions every two seconds. ‘What’s this do?’ ‘How does that work?’ It was like trying to run calculations while someone yelled random numbers at you. You just couldn’t tune it out and if you did, she’d start to sing, or repeat his name in a sing-song manner until he snapped.
In the end, he’d had to agree. Even without Weir coming down to support Zelenka and ordering him firmly to ‘get some rest,’ he knew he was making things worse, but he also knew it wasn’t his fault. Rodney was furious with Cadman. What he couldn’t understand was why she seemed to be furious with him as well.
Rodney grumbled, gesturing wildly with his hands, as he walked rapidly toward his quarters. “Why couldn’t you just shut up for a few minutes? If we are ever going to get out of this ridiculous situation, I need to be working. If you could have been a good little girly for just a few minutes, I’d still be working on a solution. Now it’s in the hands of incompetent idiots, who wouldn’t know a solution if it jumped out of a cake and did a strip tease…”
While his mumbling continued unabated, Cadman was keeping up a monologue of her own, albeit hers was only taking place inside Rodney’s skull. “God, Rodney, do you ever stop being a patronizing, self-centered pain in the ass and didn’t you hire all those so-called idiots? You are forgetting that we are both a part of this situation. I want out of here as much as you want me out…more actually…”
They both fell suddenly silent, however, as they turned the corner and took in the scene up ahead. The doors that led into a small room were standing open. The light that streamed in through the upper windows was made golden by the stained glass and it glanced off the combatant’s sweat-soaked skin, highlighting taut muscles and nimble hands.
Inside, Teyla Emmagan and John Sheppard were locked in an intricate battle, their bodies gliding just out of reach of each other, the only sounds the clacks of their stick weapons as they met over and over again.
McKay and Cadman watched in silent awe as the twirling sticks swept through the room, taking in the sudden whoosh of rushing air, before the clack and clatter of each new strike. A few of the strikes were punctuated by a low grunt that Sheppard made as he was caught off-guard.
In a sudden move, Teyla was under Sheppard’s guard, her sticks sounding a dull thud as they contacted sharply against various parts of his body. In what seemed like no more than a single second, John had been forced to release both his sticks and drop to his knees. He was now held in a tight headlock, his arm pulled back at an uncomfortable angle with one of Teyla’s sticks pressed against his throat, her knee pressing into his back.
“You are improving. That was much better, Colonel Sheppard, but you are still leaving yourself far too open. How did I get under your guard?”
Sheppard tried his best to shrug, but was hampered by the strong hold Teyla still had him in. “Must have been your charming eyes,” he replied and Teyla grinned as she slowly released her hold.
“He moved too soon. He was so busy concentrating on what he believed to be a gap in her guard; he never even realized the ruse.”
“Huh. Really? And what makes you the expert Cadman?”
At the sound of Rodney’s voice, Teyla and Sheppard both spun around in surprise.
“Rodney?” Sheppard had raised his hands in a defensive gesture, his reaction fuelled by instinct and the adrenaline from the work-out, but he quickly dropped them again.
“She had you there. You were too busy concentrating on the gap in Teyla’s guard and you didn’t realize it was a ruse to make you drop your own guard.” Rodney crossed his arms, looking smugly superior as he leaned against the wall. “At least that’s what she says.” Rodney pointed to his own head, shrugging off the strange look that Sheppard was giving him.
Teyla just smiled. “That is correct, Dr McKay, Lieutenant Cadman. I would be happy to teach you also, if you would be interested?”
“Oh, can we, Rodney? Please, please, please, please, please.”
“Geez, Cadman, you sound like a two year old. I’m not doing that.” Rodney gave an exasperated shrug, as he took in the perplexed expressions of Teyla and John. “She wants to learn, but it’s a bad idea. I’m sure when you have your own body back, Cadman, Teyla will be more than happy to teach you and we really need to get back to…”
“Oh no, you don’t. If we are going to sit around in your quarters and mope, then let’s at least get some exercise first. You know I could make this a living hell for you. I think I’m being quite reasonable.”
But Rodney wasn’t listening to Cadman any more; he had tuned out, his eyes focused on John’s hands and the twirling sticks they held. They moved rhythmically, hypnotically, spinning in controlled set patterns and Rodney tilted his head to one side, watching with rapt attention as everything else drifted into the background.
0OOOO0
John watched, slightly bemused as Rodney seemed to zone out for a minute, as if the fight suddenly just flowed out of his body. Rodney’s posture seemed to shift slightly and John quirked an eyebrow, watching in interest as the man moved determinedly over to the rack on the far wall and picked up two fighting sticks, like the ones John was holding. Moving back to stand in front of Teyla, he asked, “Okay then, how do we do this?”
For the next twenty minutes or so, Teyla patiently instructed a strangely quiet Rodney in the basic stances and patterns of the fighting style, before they finally began to gently spar. John never left the room, simply watching, as Rodney overbalanced a few times, but otherwise moved far less awkwardly than John would have given him credit for. For some reason, it gave him a sense of unease and made him unwilling to leave the room. He was looking for something, waiting for something, though he couldn’t have said what it was.
As Teyla brought her sticks through another swinging arc, designed to be easily blocked by the beginner, Rodney’s body suddenly went rigid. Teyla pulled her strike just in time to avoid hitting him full on, but the stick glanced slightly off Rodney’s shoulder and he dropped his sticks, letting out a small sound of pain.
Teyla looked intently at Rodney. “I am sorry, Dr McKay. Are you alright?”
It took a moment for Rodney to respond. When he finally raised his head, his eyes had that slightly glazed look of someone emerging from sleep. It appeared to take an effort for him to focus on Teyla.
“Rodney?” John moved to stand next to Teyla, placing a hand on Rodney’s shoulder.
“Um, I’m okay, just tired. I think that’s enough for today. Thank you, Teyla. I’ll be going now.”
Teyla reached out to grip both of Rodney’s shoulders lightly and touched her forehead to his in the Athosian sign of respect. John suspected she also meant it as an apology and the gesture seemed to help to ground him.
Rodney nodded, looking from Teyla’s gently furrowed brow to John’s curious expression. “I’m fine, really. Thank you. Goodnight.”
He beat a hasty exit from the room and John thought he heard him muttering under his breath as he left. “Don’t do that again. I am seriously freaked out right now.”
0OOOO0
“This is the song that doesn’t end. It just goes on and on, my friend. Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, and they’ll continue singing it forever just becaaaaause… It is the song that doesn’t end. It just goes on and on, my friend. Some people started singing it not knowing what it was...”
Rodney groaned and covered his ears, pulling the pillow over his head in what was a completely ineffective gesture, considering the voice singing inanely was coming from inside his head. “Shut up! Cadman, this is completely childish. It’s my body; you can’t just demand rights to use it however you want.”
In response Cadman gave a low chuckle, before she switched songs. “You’ll never get this song out of your head, out of your head, out of you head. You’ll never get this song out of your head, unless you put lead, right through your head. You’ll never get this song out of your head, out of your head…”
Rodney groaned again and threw the pillow across the room in frustration and Cadman paused in her singing for a moment. ”You know I’m not tired. I could keep this up all night. Like it or not, we are sharing this body and I will not be ignored. I demand some rights too.”
“It’s my body!” Rodney’s face screwed up, rapidly turning a dangerous shade of red, but Cadman just continued to sing.
It was roughly half way through the fourth round of ‘99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall’, following the previous several hundred rounds of ‘I’m King Henry the Eighth I am’, that Rodney finally cracked.
“Alright, alright. We’ll figure something out in the morning; just let me sleep already.”
Cadman chuckled. “I’ll hold you to that.”
Rodney just groaned a final time and sprawled out on his stomach. He was asleep in a matter of minutes.
A few moments after that, Cadman sat up, suddenly realizing she had full control of the body she was in. She stood up, then bounced up and down a few times, but felt no resistance from Rodney. Quickly pulling on some trousers, boots and a clean black t-shirt, she merrily marched Rodney’s body out into the corridors of Atlantis.
0OOOO0
Cadman strolled toward the armoury, still not feeling any hint that Rodney was aware his body was being used without him. Hanging around and listening to Rodney berate people in the labs, and otherwise just generally doing things McKay-style all day, had made her twitchy. The small taste of freedom she had had in the gym was only fleeting. Letting off a few rounds would help clear her mind before bed. Maybe she’d take this body for a jog before bed too; heaven knows it could use the exercise. She could feel herself wheezing slightly just from the light jog there.
As she rounded the final corner and the armoury door slid open, she noticed she wasn’t alone in her late night activity. Colonel John Sheppard, dressed in casual sweatpants and a black t-shirt, stood with his back to her as he reloaded his handgun. The hearing protection he wore meant that he hadn’t noticed her presence yet and so she stood for a moment, taking in the lithe muscle of his arms as he lined up the next shot, the gentle curve of his long neck, the points of his ears where they stood out above the clunky orange ear muffs. She was reminded again of how attractive the man really was and remembered with annoyance, not for the first time, the fraternization rules that prevented her from pursuing most of the men around her.
The slight tension that suddenly entered Sheppard’s shoulders let her know her presence had been sensed, before he turned his body just slightly in order to look over his shoulder at her. His eyes glinted pure green in the backlit room, but it was the genuine smile that lit his face which made her breath catch and her stomach flutter, until she remembered whose body it was that she was in. Suddenly, a lot of things fell into place.
“Rodney, what are you doing here? You’re up late. Is everything alright?” John pulled down the ear muffs and settled them around his neck. He looked slightly puzzled - though the smile was still in place, if a little less broad - and his manner suggested amusement. He turned on the safety and checked his weapon from habit, before he set it back down on the nearby bench and turned to face her completely. He stood akimbo; head slightly tilted, waiting for a response.
“Oh, ah, I couldn’t sleep. I mean Cadman was tired, but I couldn’t sleep. I’m fine, just thought I’d let off some rounds, you know, let off some steam before bed.” Cadman gave an uncomfortable cough as she realized she’d stuck her hip out in what was probably a very unmanly stance. She quickly moved to mirror Sheppard’s stance, before crossing her arms and bouncing slightly on her toes.
“You just thought you’d let off a few rounds, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Rodney, I usually have to drag you down here, not to mention, you aren’t supposed to come here without a military chaperone.” Sheppard’s expression was downright incredulous now, his mouth twisting in thought, his eyebrows up, as he reached up to scratch his head. Cadman couldn’t help, but find the expression adorable, but she tried hard to keep her own expression neutral.
“Ah, Cadman was… She said she was a great shot. I mean, she is really good and I thought…” Cadman trailed off wondering if she was making this situation all the worse, but something she’d said had worked; Sheppard was laughing at her now.
“So you thought you’d show her up.” His gentle chuckle made her blush and look down, as he continued. “If I’d known a little competition was all it would take to get you down here, Rodney, I’d have set something up earlier.”
“Ah, maybe I should go. I’ll just…” She started to back out of the room, but Sheppard was quickly on the move, his hand on her elbow.
“No, you don’t. If you want to beat Cadman, you’ll need some more tutoring. Is Cadman… I mean is she…here too?”
His voice had taken on a huskier quality, lower than before, and Cadman took a deep breath as she looked up again, straight into those green eyes. They seemed to pierce right into her, scrutinizing her, asking more than his question would suggest.
“Cadman?” She had to stop talking for a moment and swallow, as her voice - McKay’s voice - squeaked. When she spoke again, it was only a little better. “She’s asleep, can’t hear a thing.” She flashed what she hoped was a reassuring smile and was pleased to see it returned in kind. Sheppard steered her over to the weapons, picked up his loaded handgun and checked the weapon again, before handing it to her.
He moved in to stand behind her, as she settled into a shooting stance. It felt awkward in this body, and she was reminded that McKay’s body would have a lower center of gravity than her own. She was still contemplating this obvious difference, and therefore found herself caught off guard when Sheppard gently insinuated a leg in between her own, forcing her into a wider stance. She hadn’t been aware of him moving in so close behind her and she automatically stiffened at the unusual closeness.
Sheppard chuckled, his warm breath sending a small shiver down her spine. “Rodney, relax. Bend your knees a bit more. That’s right.” Cadman did as she was told; as she felt his hands now reaching around her body to where her hands gripped the gun.
He checked her grip and then moved to bend her arm slightly, tucking her elbows in closer to her body. “Okay, now line up the shot. Remember to breath and keep your eyes open.”
His breath, still warm on her neck, was distracting and she took a deep calming breath, before lining up the shot expertly and letting off the whole round in succession, hitting dead center of the target. When she looked up, she realized her mistake immediately. Sheppard had backed off, looking mildly confused, before his face became unreadable.
“I think that’s enough for tonight. You should be getting some sleep too. Goodnight, Rodney.” Sheppard moved to leave the room, muttering just loud enough to be heard, “…Lieutenant.” Without another word, he put down his ear muffs and left the room.
0OOOO0
Cadman’s breath hitched as John’s hands worked their way down her body, slowly, firmly. His breath ghosted across her neck, lips smiling against her skin. She worked her fingers through the silky strands of his thick hair, before running them along the edge of his cutely-shaped ears and spreading her hands over the firm muscle of his shoulders. He leant in to kiss her, hard and dirty, and she bucked up against the firm weight of his body, moaning into his mouth, as he bit down on her bottom lip.
“Cadman! Caadman! Wake up this instant or I swear to god I will torture you, even if it means torturing myself to do it. Cadman!”
“Can’t we sleep just a little bit longer, Rodney? I was having the most amazing…”
“Dream. Yes I know.” Rodney finished her sentence for her. The tightly controlled frustration and anger in his voice finally woke her up.
It was weird enough to wake up to find that your eyes were already open. However, it was suddenly becoming aware that the sensations you were feeling a moment ago were not confined to your dreams, but were being reciprocated in a very big way by your body - by the very male body you were sharing - that made this experience one of the weirdest things Cadman had ever experienced. It ranked right up there with walking through wormholes and talking to little grey aliens.
“Oh, dear lord, that feels so weird.”
Rodney picked up the sheet, tucking it around him, as he made a dash for the bathroom and the shower.
“How the hell did I end up in your room anyway and why am I naked?”
“It was easier to use your body while you were asleep and I’m kind of used to sleeping in the buff.”
Rodney turned on the shower and stepped under the spray, while pointedly keeping his eyes averted from his body.
“Don’t look.”
“Seen it! Well, at least I did before it was, well, you know, turned on. I can assure you it was more traumatic for me.”
“I somehow doubt that.” Rodney placed his left arm on the shower wall, so that he could rest his forehead on his wrist, eyes clenched tightly closed. “You could have at least shared whatever it was you were dreaming about. Or are you still dreaming, because this is not going away.”
Cadman chuckled in the way that Rodney was beginning to associate with mischief and then the voice only he could hear dropped slightly, becoming both cheeky and throaty.
“Well, we were dreaming about John,” she started, as Rodney felt his right hand, not guided by him, moving down to stroke along his hard length. He groaned at the touch, bucking slightly, as he continued to let Cadman have control of his hand.
“John’s hands on your body, his breath ghosting across your neck and those long, long fingers tracing patterns over your skin.”
Rodney lifted his head and let it gently fall back to rest against the cool tile, as he moved his left hand, letting it ghost gently across his stomach, mirroring Cadman’s description.
“His lips and tongue, working their way across your neck, nibbling your ear. His body pressed into yours, sliding smoothly, moving in rhythm.” Cadman’s voice had dropped to a seductive whisper, the hand she controlled moving urgently enough that he knew she was feeling this too, doing it for her as much as for him, and then he shuddered, all thoughts eliminated in the brilliant white of sensory overload that followed.
“Oh wow! Wow! That was… Wow!”
Rodney sat limp-limbed on the tiled floor, blinking stupidly in the steam of the shower. He really had no idea what had just happened, but he was pretty sure he should be freaking out about now. Somehow, all he managed to say was, “I really need to get you out of my head.”
0OOOO0
Rodney sat stiffly on the couch in Heightmeyer’s office. He’d barely given her time to sit down, after bustling his way in, before he was complaining about the blatant misuse of his body by one Laura Cadman.
“She just walked out in my body while I was asleep. She could have done anything. She openly admits to having gone for a run and I woke up in her quarters, naked.” He deliberately left out the other facts about how exactly he had woken up, not feeling the need to be ridiculed. “I would like an apology.”
Kate Heightmeyer took in the clearly annoyed and mortified Rodney, before asking, “Laura, would you like to say something?”
“Forget about it.” The change in enunciation and inflection of Rodney’s voice let Heightmeyer know that it was Laura talking.
“Laura, you did take over his body without permission.”
“He doesn’t ask permission when he takes over.”
”Because it’s my body!”
“Yeah and I’m a guest. Try and be a little more courteous.”
“You see what I have to put up with?” Rodney looked imploringly to Heightmeyer, who was privately very proud that she was following the conversation at all.
However, before she could try to calm things down, Cadman was talking again. “He’s just mad, because I figured out his secret. I know why he keeps turning down Katie Brown.” Cadman’s voice was smug.
”Cadman! This is highly inappropriate. First you take over my body without permission and now you’re jumping to wildly inaccurate conclusions about my personal life.”
Rodney’s face was turning an angry shade of red with the range of emotions both of the inhabitants of his body were currently expressing. Heightmeyer had been to enough of the ladies poker nights to know that Rodney’s refusal to date the small botanist was currently a strong talking point. Some of the women had suggested he had a crush on someone else or even that he was gay, but she was quite certain that it should be up to Rodney as to when, how, or even if he would choose to share his reasons with anyone.
“He’s an attractive guy, Rodney. I like him too, you know…and you didn’t seem to mind this morning in the shower when we…”
Rodney’s mouth quickly closed, with a painful snap, on whatever Laura was about to say and his face somehow turned a brighter shade of red.
Kate reached out to touch Rodney’s knee. “Okay, we all just need to calm down here. Laura, this is not an appropriate conversation topic. How would you like it if roles were reversed and Rodney was trapped in your body? Would you want him revealing things you’d rather keep private?”
But as she was speaking, Rodney suddenly began to convulse, falling to the floor, with Kate’s hands under his head in an attempt to keep him from hurting himself. As soon as she was able to, she hurried to the intercom. “This is Heightmeyer. Get Beckett in here stat. Rodney’s having a seizure.”
0OOOO0
“You don’t have to do this you know.” Rodney played with the edge of the crisp, white infirmary sheets, worrying at it with his strong hands enough that it had begun to fray.
“Yes I do, Rodney. You heard what Beckett said; if one of us doesn’t release control of your body, we’ll both die. It’s your body and you’re not going to do it.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“They need you here and, as much as I hate to admit it, I’m not as important as you.”
“Stop it. That’s not true.”
“Hey Rodney, would you promise me something?”
“That depends on what you want.” Even as helpless as he was currently feeling, Rodney was wary of making blanket promises.
“Would you try to make it work with Sheppard?”
“What?”
“I’ve seen the way you two are around each other. He’s into you, Rodney.”
“Cadman, really. I…” Rodney started, but Cadman just kept talking right over the top of him.
“I can see that you’re into him. You could make it work for both of us. I’d never get a chance, even if I could get my body back.”
“What are you talking about, Cadman?”
“The whole military thing, Rodney. Chain of command. Fraternization rules. I never get to date the guys around me; not the ones I want to.” Cadman sounded kind of forlorn, but as Rodney tried to find the words to answer, figure out something comforting to say - it really wasn’t his forte - he heard himself wave Carson over and ask for something to write with.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to write a letter to my folks. I’d appreciate it if you’d deliver it yourself the next time you gate back to Earth, Rodney; explain what happened.”
“The gate, that’s it. We can use the gate. We should be able to take one of the crystal control modules from the gate and interface it with the dart to create a stable system.”
Rodney scrambled from the bed, brushing off Carson as he made for the Gate Room, throwing on a robe and hailing Zelenka on the radio all at once.
0OOOO0
Rodney nervously checked the machine one last time, before lining it up and backing up until he was in its sights.
“You know, Rodney, just because it works in a simulation, doesn’t mean that-” Radek started, but Rodney cut him off.
“Let’s just do this, Radek. I would rather not suffer a fatal seizure while you’re busy rounding up more mice for testing. So, shall we?”
“Hold on a minute, Rodney. Are you sure about this?” Sheppard was frowning. “You did see what happened to the mice Zelenka was testing this thing on earlier, right? None of them survived.” John’s eyes seemed suddenly sad, somehow vulnerable, but the next minute he had the same slightly concerned look on his face as everyone else in the room and Rodney wondered if he’d imagined it.
“Yes, I’m sure.” Rodney took a deep breath and swallowed. “It will work,” he said, possibly as much for his own benefit as for John’s.
“Rodney, kiss him!”
Rodney shook his head slightly, as he walked back to the target area for the dart beam.
“Come on, Rodney. As much as I appreciate what you’re doing for me now, the fact is we might die here, and wouldn’t you want to have kissed him. Just in case it doesn’t work. You have full permission to blame it on me later, if the need arises.” Cadman’s voice was back to its sing-song-y, persuasive best.
“Well, good luck to us both, hmm,” Rodney said, and before he had fully made a decision, he found himself marching toward John.
He grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. Leaning forward, his lips brushing against the rough stubble of a five-o-clock shadow and then Rodney was kissing John firmly and, though John was obviously shocked, he didn’t try to pull away. Rodney couldn’t help but grin as he pulled away and slowly released his grip on John’s jacket.
“Just in case this doesn’t work,” he told John, repeating the reason Cadman had given him. Out loud, it sounded even more flimsy than it did in his head.
“Way to go, Rodney!”
Then, he looked around, blushing slightly and ducking his head in confusion, as he took in the looks he was getting from the few other individuals who were gathered in the room and realized what it was exactly that he had just done. He covered his eyes and moved back into position, waving a hand at Radek. “Just hit it,” he said and Radek did.
0OOOO0
Sheppard lounged at one end of the infirmary, his eyes half closed as he drifted between waking and sleep. Weir and Zelenka also sat patiently, waiting for Cadman or Rodney to stir, waiting to see if their friends were now reinstated within their own bodies.
Cadman was the first to stir. She moaned slightly, before opening her eyes, blinking until the room came into focus around her.
“Welcome back, Lieutenant. How are you feeling?” Elizabeth smiled, one eyebrow raised in polite inquiry.
“Way to survive what could be my worst nightmare,” quipped John, as he made his way over to her side.
“Ha ha, very funny!” snapped Cadman, before a horrified expression came over her face and she picked up the sheet, peering underneath it, before clutching it up under her chin and holding onto the sheet as if it was all that was keeping her from completely freaking out. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me!”
John’s eyes widened as he recognized the familiar clipped inflection in the rushed sentence as she spoke; the strangely familiar, yet different look of abject horror on her face and he found himself coming to an altogether uncomfortable conclusion.
“Rodney?” he asked and watched as Cadman nodded fervently, pulling the sheet up a little higher with a slightly undignified whimper.
In the next bed over, Rodney’s body stretched and opened his eyes, as Cadman’s mind began to stir.
~The End~
Feedback and constructive criticism are always appreciated and make me happy! I'm still learning with every piece of fiction I write. :D
Author:
starrylizardCharacters: McKay (Cadman)/Sheppard
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: NC17+
Spoilers: Duet
Notes: This was written for the
artword challenge 006A – remix challenge and is a remix of the S2 episode Duet. Thank you kindly to celtic_sky for the beta and to _wwsd_ for many plotty ideas and encouragement!Summary: His eyes glinted pure green in the backlit room, but it was the genuine smile that lit his face which made her breath catch and her stomach flutter, until she remembered whose body it was that she was in. Suddenly, a lot of things fell into place.
Also check out the lovely poster from my artistic partner for the challenge,
_wwsd_. 
Rodney strolled through the empty fields, happy for the slow pace, as he talked to Doctor Beckett and Lieutenant Cadman. The planet was completely deserted. Anyone who survived the recent culling must have left through the Stargate; assuming there were any survivors at all. This whole mission was a bust and he was just looking forward to getting home and putting his feet up; maybe working on his latest paper.
“So Rodney, why did you turn Katie down? She’s really nice and heaven knows why she was interested, but you could have let her down little more sensitively. Maybe you should make it up to her with some flowers?” Cadman bent down to pick one of the yellow wildflowers as she spoke, turning back slightly to look at Rodney.
“I wasn’t interested and I told her so. I don’t see what’s wrong with that.”
“What’s this now? You were asked on a date, Rodney, by a woman?” Beckett’s face lit up in a broad grin.
“She just asked me over for dinner and I humbly declined…and yes with a woman! I can’t help it if my raw animal magnetism and genius charm draws in the ladies.” Rodney’s smug smile made Cadman giggle and Beckett exchanged a knowing look with her.
Rodney huffed. “How did you know about that anyway?”
“Girls poker night. I know a lot of things McKay. Anyway, I was only suggesting you might want to pick some flowers.”
“This is inappropriate field conversation. How about you just do your job, which is to protect us?”
A distinctive insect-like hum was drawing nearer, but McKay was too busy ranting to hear it; Cadman was a little more alert.
“Shut up, McKay.”
“Don’t tell me to shut up…”
“Just be quiet.” Cadman keyed her radio. “Colonel Sheppard, be advised we’ve got a dart incoming.
She glanced up. “Move it, guys.”
Cadman gave Rodney a shove, but he’d only just started to run when the dart was suddenly very close. He heard Cadman tell them to scatter and then it was right over the top of them and all he could think was I’m going to die before his senses were overwhelmed by the sound of the dart and a brilliant bright white light.
Cadman came to, looking at Dr Beckett. She couldn’t remember opening her eyes, but she supposed she must have done so. Everything felt weird, disjointed - like floating on a cloud - and she could only surmise it was the effect of the Wraith transporter beam or some of the infirmary drugs. Either way, she didn’t like the feeling very much. She realized her hearing wasn’t working either, since Dr Beckett’s mouth was moving but she couldn’t hear him. But as she thought about it some more his voice started to filter through. “…glad to see you’re doing well.”
“Hello, Dr Beckett.” Carson was standing right in front of her.
“Is that Cadman?” The voice was McKay’s and it sounded really close, but she couldn’t see the grumpy Canadian scientist anywhere.
“Dr McKay?”
“Where is she?”
“I’m right here.” What did he mean, where was she? Where was he?
“Lieutenant Cadman is still trapped inside the dart,” Beckett replied.
“What?”
“Who said that?” McKay could obviously hear her.
“I did. I said Cadman is still trapped in the dart.” Beckett was beginning to look slightly alarmed.
By the time McKay waved his hands in front of his eyes and she had seen it as if they were her own eyes, Laura Cadman was decidedly freaked out! She was somehow trapped inside Rodney’s body. There was no way this could end well.
“I am telling you, these calculations are wrong. Having two consciousnesses in one brain must be very taxing. You are making mistakes.”
Zelenka had yelled at him and he’d had every right to. It wasn’t his fault though. He dared anyone to try working with Cadman asking questions every two seconds. ‘What’s this do?’ ‘How does that work?’ It was like trying to run calculations while someone yelled random numbers at you. You just couldn’t tune it out and if you did, she’d start to sing, or repeat his name in a sing-song manner until he snapped.
In the end, he’d had to agree. Even without Weir coming down to support Zelenka and ordering him firmly to ‘get some rest,’ he knew he was making things worse, but he also knew it wasn’t his fault. Rodney was furious with Cadman. What he couldn’t understand was why she seemed to be furious with him as well.
Rodney grumbled, gesturing wildly with his hands, as he walked rapidly toward his quarters. “Why couldn’t you just shut up for a few minutes? If we are ever going to get out of this ridiculous situation, I need to be working. If you could have been a good little girly for just a few minutes, I’d still be working on a solution. Now it’s in the hands of incompetent idiots, who wouldn’t know a solution if it jumped out of a cake and did a strip tease…”
While his mumbling continued unabated, Cadman was keeping up a monologue of her own, albeit hers was only taking place inside Rodney’s skull. “God, Rodney, do you ever stop being a patronizing, self-centered pain in the ass and didn’t you hire all those so-called idiots? You are forgetting that we are both a part of this situation. I want out of here as much as you want me out…more actually…”
They both fell suddenly silent, however, as they turned the corner and took in the scene up ahead. The doors that led into a small room were standing open. The light that streamed in through the upper windows was made golden by the stained glass and it glanced off the combatant’s sweat-soaked skin, highlighting taut muscles and nimble hands.
Inside, Teyla Emmagan and John Sheppard were locked in an intricate battle, their bodies gliding just out of reach of each other, the only sounds the clacks of their stick weapons as they met over and over again.
McKay and Cadman watched in silent awe as the twirling sticks swept through the room, taking in the sudden whoosh of rushing air, before the clack and clatter of each new strike. A few of the strikes were punctuated by a low grunt that Sheppard made as he was caught off-guard.
In a sudden move, Teyla was under Sheppard’s guard, her sticks sounding a dull thud as they contacted sharply against various parts of his body. In what seemed like no more than a single second, John had been forced to release both his sticks and drop to his knees. He was now held in a tight headlock, his arm pulled back at an uncomfortable angle with one of Teyla’s sticks pressed against his throat, her knee pressing into his back.
“You are improving. That was much better, Colonel Sheppard, but you are still leaving yourself far too open. How did I get under your guard?”
Sheppard tried his best to shrug, but was hampered by the strong hold Teyla still had him in. “Must have been your charming eyes,” he replied and Teyla grinned as she slowly released her hold.
“He moved too soon. He was so busy concentrating on what he believed to be a gap in her guard; he never even realized the ruse.”
“Huh. Really? And what makes you the expert Cadman?”
At the sound of Rodney’s voice, Teyla and Sheppard both spun around in surprise.
“Rodney?” Sheppard had raised his hands in a defensive gesture, his reaction fuelled by instinct and the adrenaline from the work-out, but he quickly dropped them again.
“She had you there. You were too busy concentrating on the gap in Teyla’s guard and you didn’t realize it was a ruse to make you drop your own guard.” Rodney crossed his arms, looking smugly superior as he leaned against the wall. “At least that’s what she says.” Rodney pointed to his own head, shrugging off the strange look that Sheppard was giving him.
Teyla just smiled. “That is correct, Dr McKay, Lieutenant Cadman. I would be happy to teach you also, if you would be interested?”
“Oh, can we, Rodney? Please, please, please, please, please.”
“Geez, Cadman, you sound like a two year old. I’m not doing that.” Rodney gave an exasperated shrug, as he took in the perplexed expressions of Teyla and John. “She wants to learn, but it’s a bad idea. I’m sure when you have your own body back, Cadman, Teyla will be more than happy to teach you and we really need to get back to…”
“Oh no, you don’t. If we are going to sit around in your quarters and mope, then let’s at least get some exercise first. You know I could make this a living hell for you. I think I’m being quite reasonable.”
But Rodney wasn’t listening to Cadman any more; he had tuned out, his eyes focused on John’s hands and the twirling sticks they held. They moved rhythmically, hypnotically, spinning in controlled set patterns and Rodney tilted his head to one side, watching with rapt attention as everything else drifted into the background.
John watched, slightly bemused as Rodney seemed to zone out for a minute, as if the fight suddenly just flowed out of his body. Rodney’s posture seemed to shift slightly and John quirked an eyebrow, watching in interest as the man moved determinedly over to the rack on the far wall and picked up two fighting sticks, like the ones John was holding. Moving back to stand in front of Teyla, he asked, “Okay then, how do we do this?”
For the next twenty minutes or so, Teyla patiently instructed a strangely quiet Rodney in the basic stances and patterns of the fighting style, before they finally began to gently spar. John never left the room, simply watching, as Rodney overbalanced a few times, but otherwise moved far less awkwardly than John would have given him credit for. For some reason, it gave him a sense of unease and made him unwilling to leave the room. He was looking for something, waiting for something, though he couldn’t have said what it was.
As Teyla brought her sticks through another swinging arc, designed to be easily blocked by the beginner, Rodney’s body suddenly went rigid. Teyla pulled her strike just in time to avoid hitting him full on, but the stick glanced slightly off Rodney’s shoulder and he dropped his sticks, letting out a small sound of pain.
Teyla looked intently at Rodney. “I am sorry, Dr McKay. Are you alright?”
It took a moment for Rodney to respond. When he finally raised his head, his eyes had that slightly glazed look of someone emerging from sleep. It appeared to take an effort for him to focus on Teyla.
“Rodney?” John moved to stand next to Teyla, placing a hand on Rodney’s shoulder.
“Um, I’m okay, just tired. I think that’s enough for today. Thank you, Teyla. I’ll be going now.”
Teyla reached out to grip both of Rodney’s shoulders lightly and touched her forehead to his in the Athosian sign of respect. John suspected she also meant it as an apology and the gesture seemed to help to ground him.
Rodney nodded, looking from Teyla’s gently furrowed brow to John’s curious expression. “I’m fine, really. Thank you. Goodnight.”
He beat a hasty exit from the room and John thought he heard him muttering under his breath as he left. “Don’t do that again. I am seriously freaked out right now.”
“This is the song that doesn’t end. It just goes on and on, my friend. Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, and they’ll continue singing it forever just becaaaaause… It is the song that doesn’t end. It just goes on and on, my friend. Some people started singing it not knowing what it was...”
Rodney groaned and covered his ears, pulling the pillow over his head in what was a completely ineffective gesture, considering the voice singing inanely was coming from inside his head. “Shut up! Cadman, this is completely childish. It’s my body; you can’t just demand rights to use it however you want.”
In response Cadman gave a low chuckle, before she switched songs. “You’ll never get this song out of your head, out of your head, out of you head. You’ll never get this song out of your head, unless you put lead, right through your head. You’ll never get this song out of your head, out of your head…”
Rodney groaned again and threw the pillow across the room in frustration and Cadman paused in her singing for a moment. ”You know I’m not tired. I could keep this up all night. Like it or not, we are sharing this body and I will not be ignored. I demand some rights too.”
“It’s my body!” Rodney’s face screwed up, rapidly turning a dangerous shade of red, but Cadman just continued to sing.
It was roughly half way through the fourth round of ‘99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall’, following the previous several hundred rounds of ‘I’m King Henry the Eighth I am’, that Rodney finally cracked.
“Alright, alright. We’ll figure something out in the morning; just let me sleep already.”
Cadman chuckled. “I’ll hold you to that.”
Rodney just groaned a final time and sprawled out on his stomach. He was asleep in a matter of minutes.
A few moments after that, Cadman sat up, suddenly realizing she had full control of the body she was in. She stood up, then bounced up and down a few times, but felt no resistance from Rodney. Quickly pulling on some trousers, boots and a clean black t-shirt, she merrily marched Rodney’s body out into the corridors of Atlantis.
Cadman strolled toward the armoury, still not feeling any hint that Rodney was aware his body was being used without him. Hanging around and listening to Rodney berate people in the labs, and otherwise just generally doing things McKay-style all day, had made her twitchy. The small taste of freedom she had had in the gym was only fleeting. Letting off a few rounds would help clear her mind before bed. Maybe she’d take this body for a jog before bed too; heaven knows it could use the exercise. She could feel herself wheezing slightly just from the light jog there.
As she rounded the final corner and the armoury door slid open, she noticed she wasn’t alone in her late night activity. Colonel John Sheppard, dressed in casual sweatpants and a black t-shirt, stood with his back to her as he reloaded his handgun. The hearing protection he wore meant that he hadn’t noticed her presence yet and so she stood for a moment, taking in the lithe muscle of his arms as he lined up the next shot, the gentle curve of his long neck, the points of his ears where they stood out above the clunky orange ear muffs. She was reminded again of how attractive the man really was and remembered with annoyance, not for the first time, the fraternization rules that prevented her from pursuing most of the men around her.
The slight tension that suddenly entered Sheppard’s shoulders let her know her presence had been sensed, before he turned his body just slightly in order to look over his shoulder at her. His eyes glinted pure green in the backlit room, but it was the genuine smile that lit his face which made her breath catch and her stomach flutter, until she remembered whose body it was that she was in. Suddenly, a lot of things fell into place.
“Rodney, what are you doing here? You’re up late. Is everything alright?” John pulled down the ear muffs and settled them around his neck. He looked slightly puzzled - though the smile was still in place, if a little less broad - and his manner suggested amusement. He turned on the safety and checked his weapon from habit, before he set it back down on the nearby bench and turned to face her completely. He stood akimbo; head slightly tilted, waiting for a response.
“Oh, ah, I couldn’t sleep. I mean Cadman was tired, but I couldn’t sleep. I’m fine, just thought I’d let off some rounds, you know, let off some steam before bed.” Cadman gave an uncomfortable cough as she realized she’d stuck her hip out in what was probably a very unmanly stance. She quickly moved to mirror Sheppard’s stance, before crossing her arms and bouncing slightly on her toes.
“You just thought you’d let off a few rounds, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Rodney, I usually have to drag you down here, not to mention, you aren’t supposed to come here without a military chaperone.” Sheppard’s expression was downright incredulous now, his mouth twisting in thought, his eyebrows up, as he reached up to scratch his head. Cadman couldn’t help, but find the expression adorable, but she tried hard to keep her own expression neutral.
“Ah, Cadman was… She said she was a great shot. I mean, she is really good and I thought…” Cadman trailed off wondering if she was making this situation all the worse, but something she’d said had worked; Sheppard was laughing at her now.
“So you thought you’d show her up.” His gentle chuckle made her blush and look down, as he continued. “If I’d known a little competition was all it would take to get you down here, Rodney, I’d have set something up earlier.”
“Ah, maybe I should go. I’ll just…” She started to back out of the room, but Sheppard was quickly on the move, his hand on her elbow.
“No, you don’t. If you want to beat Cadman, you’ll need some more tutoring. Is Cadman… I mean is she…here too?”
His voice had taken on a huskier quality, lower than before, and Cadman took a deep breath as she looked up again, straight into those green eyes. They seemed to pierce right into her, scrutinizing her, asking more than his question would suggest.
“Cadman?” She had to stop talking for a moment and swallow, as her voice - McKay’s voice - squeaked. When she spoke again, it was only a little better. “She’s asleep, can’t hear a thing.” She flashed what she hoped was a reassuring smile and was pleased to see it returned in kind. Sheppard steered her over to the weapons, picked up his loaded handgun and checked the weapon again, before handing it to her.
He moved in to stand behind her, as she settled into a shooting stance. It felt awkward in this body, and she was reminded that McKay’s body would have a lower center of gravity than her own. She was still contemplating this obvious difference, and therefore found herself caught off guard when Sheppard gently insinuated a leg in between her own, forcing her into a wider stance. She hadn’t been aware of him moving in so close behind her and she automatically stiffened at the unusual closeness.
Sheppard chuckled, his warm breath sending a small shiver down her spine. “Rodney, relax. Bend your knees a bit more. That’s right.” Cadman did as she was told; as she felt his hands now reaching around her body to where her hands gripped the gun.
He checked her grip and then moved to bend her arm slightly, tucking her elbows in closer to her body. “Okay, now line up the shot. Remember to breath and keep your eyes open.”
His breath, still warm on her neck, was distracting and she took a deep calming breath, before lining up the shot expertly and letting off the whole round in succession, hitting dead center of the target. When she looked up, she realized her mistake immediately. Sheppard had backed off, looking mildly confused, before his face became unreadable.
“I think that’s enough for tonight. You should be getting some sleep too. Goodnight, Rodney.” Sheppard moved to leave the room, muttering just loud enough to be heard, “…Lieutenant.” Without another word, he put down his ear muffs and left the room.
Cadman’s breath hitched as John’s hands worked their way down her body, slowly, firmly. His breath ghosted across her neck, lips smiling against her skin. She worked her fingers through the silky strands of his thick hair, before running them along the edge of his cutely-shaped ears and spreading her hands over the firm muscle of his shoulders. He leant in to kiss her, hard and dirty, and she bucked up against the firm weight of his body, moaning into his mouth, as he bit down on her bottom lip.
“Cadman! Caadman! Wake up this instant or I swear to god I will torture you, even if it means torturing myself to do it. Cadman!”
“Can’t we sleep just a little bit longer, Rodney? I was having the most amazing…”
“Dream. Yes I know.” Rodney finished her sentence for her. The tightly controlled frustration and anger in his voice finally woke her up.
It was weird enough to wake up to find that your eyes were already open. However, it was suddenly becoming aware that the sensations you were feeling a moment ago were not confined to your dreams, but were being reciprocated in a very big way by your body - by the very male body you were sharing - that made this experience one of the weirdest things Cadman had ever experienced. It ranked right up there with walking through wormholes and talking to little grey aliens.
“Oh, dear lord, that feels so weird.”
Rodney picked up the sheet, tucking it around him, as he made a dash for the bathroom and the shower.
“How the hell did I end up in your room anyway and why am I naked?”
“It was easier to use your body while you were asleep and I’m kind of used to sleeping in the buff.”
Rodney turned on the shower and stepped under the spray, while pointedly keeping his eyes averted from his body.
“Don’t look.”
“Seen it! Well, at least I did before it was, well, you know, turned on. I can assure you it was more traumatic for me.”
“I somehow doubt that.” Rodney placed his left arm on the shower wall, so that he could rest his forehead on his wrist, eyes clenched tightly closed. “You could have at least shared whatever it was you were dreaming about. Or are you still dreaming, because this is not going away.”
Cadman chuckled in the way that Rodney was beginning to associate with mischief and then the voice only he could hear dropped slightly, becoming both cheeky and throaty.
“Well, we were dreaming about John,” she started, as Rodney felt his right hand, not guided by him, moving down to stroke along his hard length. He groaned at the touch, bucking slightly, as he continued to let Cadman have control of his hand.
“John’s hands on your body, his breath ghosting across your neck and those long, long fingers tracing patterns over your skin.”
Rodney lifted his head and let it gently fall back to rest against the cool tile, as he moved his left hand, letting it ghost gently across his stomach, mirroring Cadman’s description.
“His lips and tongue, working their way across your neck, nibbling your ear. His body pressed into yours, sliding smoothly, moving in rhythm.” Cadman’s voice had dropped to a seductive whisper, the hand she controlled moving urgently enough that he knew she was feeling this too, doing it for her as much as for him, and then he shuddered, all thoughts eliminated in the brilliant white of sensory overload that followed.
“Oh wow! Wow! That was… Wow!”
Rodney sat limp-limbed on the tiled floor, blinking stupidly in the steam of the shower. He really had no idea what had just happened, but he was pretty sure he should be freaking out about now. Somehow, all he managed to say was, “I really need to get you out of my head.”
Rodney sat stiffly on the couch in Heightmeyer’s office. He’d barely given her time to sit down, after bustling his way in, before he was complaining about the blatant misuse of his body by one Laura Cadman.
“She just walked out in my body while I was asleep. She could have done anything. She openly admits to having gone for a run and I woke up in her quarters, naked.” He deliberately left out the other facts about how exactly he had woken up, not feeling the need to be ridiculed. “I would like an apology.”
Kate Heightmeyer took in the clearly annoyed and mortified Rodney, before asking, “Laura, would you like to say something?”
“Forget about it.” The change in enunciation and inflection of Rodney’s voice let Heightmeyer know that it was Laura talking.
“Laura, you did take over his body without permission.”
“He doesn’t ask permission when he takes over.”
”Because it’s my body!”
“Yeah and I’m a guest. Try and be a little more courteous.”
“You see what I have to put up with?” Rodney looked imploringly to Heightmeyer, who was privately very proud that she was following the conversation at all.
However, before she could try to calm things down, Cadman was talking again. “He’s just mad, because I figured out his secret. I know why he keeps turning down Katie Brown.” Cadman’s voice was smug.
”Cadman! This is highly inappropriate. First you take over my body without permission and now you’re jumping to wildly inaccurate conclusions about my personal life.”
Rodney’s face was turning an angry shade of red with the range of emotions both of the inhabitants of his body were currently expressing. Heightmeyer had been to enough of the ladies poker nights to know that Rodney’s refusal to date the small botanist was currently a strong talking point. Some of the women had suggested he had a crush on someone else or even that he was gay, but she was quite certain that it should be up to Rodney as to when, how, or even if he would choose to share his reasons with anyone.
“He’s an attractive guy, Rodney. I like him too, you know…and you didn’t seem to mind this morning in the shower when we…”
Rodney’s mouth quickly closed, with a painful snap, on whatever Laura was about to say and his face somehow turned a brighter shade of red.
Kate reached out to touch Rodney’s knee. “Okay, we all just need to calm down here. Laura, this is not an appropriate conversation topic. How would you like it if roles were reversed and Rodney was trapped in your body? Would you want him revealing things you’d rather keep private?”
But as she was speaking, Rodney suddenly began to convulse, falling to the floor, with Kate’s hands under his head in an attempt to keep him from hurting himself. As soon as she was able to, she hurried to the intercom. “This is Heightmeyer. Get Beckett in here stat. Rodney’s having a seizure.”
“You don’t have to do this you know.” Rodney played with the edge of the crisp, white infirmary sheets, worrying at it with his strong hands enough that it had begun to fray.
“Yes I do, Rodney. You heard what Beckett said; if one of us doesn’t release control of your body, we’ll both die. It’s your body and you’re not going to do it.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“They need you here and, as much as I hate to admit it, I’m not as important as you.”
“Stop it. That’s not true.”
“Hey Rodney, would you promise me something?”
“That depends on what you want.” Even as helpless as he was currently feeling, Rodney was wary of making blanket promises.
“Would you try to make it work with Sheppard?”
“What?”
“I’ve seen the way you two are around each other. He’s into you, Rodney.”
“Cadman, really. I…” Rodney started, but Cadman just kept talking right over the top of him.
“I can see that you’re into him. You could make it work for both of us. I’d never get a chance, even if I could get my body back.”
“What are you talking about, Cadman?”
“The whole military thing, Rodney. Chain of command. Fraternization rules. I never get to date the guys around me; not the ones I want to.” Cadman sounded kind of forlorn, but as Rodney tried to find the words to answer, figure out something comforting to say - it really wasn’t his forte - he heard himself wave Carson over and ask for something to write with.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to write a letter to my folks. I’d appreciate it if you’d deliver it yourself the next time you gate back to Earth, Rodney; explain what happened.”
“The gate, that’s it. We can use the gate. We should be able to take one of the crystal control modules from the gate and interface it with the dart to create a stable system.”
Rodney scrambled from the bed, brushing off Carson as he made for the Gate Room, throwing on a robe and hailing Zelenka on the radio all at once.
Rodney nervously checked the machine one last time, before lining it up and backing up until he was in its sights.
“You know, Rodney, just because it works in a simulation, doesn’t mean that-” Radek started, but Rodney cut him off.
“Let’s just do this, Radek. I would rather not suffer a fatal seizure while you’re busy rounding up more mice for testing. So, shall we?”
“Hold on a minute, Rodney. Are you sure about this?” Sheppard was frowning. “You did see what happened to the mice Zelenka was testing this thing on earlier, right? None of them survived.” John’s eyes seemed suddenly sad, somehow vulnerable, but the next minute he had the same slightly concerned look on his face as everyone else in the room and Rodney wondered if he’d imagined it.
“Yes, I’m sure.” Rodney took a deep breath and swallowed. “It will work,” he said, possibly as much for his own benefit as for John’s.
“Rodney, kiss him!”
Rodney shook his head slightly, as he walked back to the target area for the dart beam.
“Come on, Rodney. As much as I appreciate what you’re doing for me now, the fact is we might die here, and wouldn’t you want to have kissed him. Just in case it doesn’t work. You have full permission to blame it on me later, if the need arises.” Cadman’s voice was back to its sing-song-y, persuasive best.
“Well, good luck to us both, hmm,” Rodney said, and before he had fully made a decision, he found himself marching toward John.
He grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. Leaning forward, his lips brushing against the rough stubble of a five-o-clock shadow and then Rodney was kissing John firmly and, though John was obviously shocked, he didn’t try to pull away. Rodney couldn’t help but grin as he pulled away and slowly released his grip on John’s jacket.
“Just in case this doesn’t work,” he told John, repeating the reason Cadman had given him. Out loud, it sounded even more flimsy than it did in his head.
“Way to go, Rodney!”
Then, he looked around, blushing slightly and ducking his head in confusion, as he took in the looks he was getting from the few other individuals who were gathered in the room and realized what it was exactly that he had just done. He covered his eyes and moved back into position, waving a hand at Radek. “Just hit it,” he said and Radek did.
Sheppard lounged at one end of the infirmary, his eyes half closed as he drifted between waking and sleep. Weir and Zelenka also sat patiently, waiting for Cadman or Rodney to stir, waiting to see if their friends were now reinstated within their own bodies.
Cadman was the first to stir. She moaned slightly, before opening her eyes, blinking until the room came into focus around her.
“Welcome back, Lieutenant. How are you feeling?” Elizabeth smiled, one eyebrow raised in polite inquiry.
“Way to survive what could be my worst nightmare,” quipped John, as he made his way over to her side.
“Ha ha, very funny!” snapped Cadman, before a horrified expression came over her face and she picked up the sheet, peering underneath it, before clutching it up under her chin and holding onto the sheet as if it was all that was keeping her from completely freaking out. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me!”
John’s eyes widened as he recognized the familiar clipped inflection in the rushed sentence as she spoke; the strangely familiar, yet different look of abject horror on her face and he found himself coming to an altogether uncomfortable conclusion.
“Rodney?” he asked and watched as Cadman nodded fervently, pulling the sheet up a little higher with a slightly undignified whimper.
In the next bed over, Rodney’s body stretched and opened his eyes, as Cadman’s mind began to stir.
Feedback and constructive criticism are always appreciated and make me happy! I'm still learning with every piece of fiction I write. :D
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That icon is brilliant! :D