SGA fic: Gaijin, part 27/40
Dec. 21st, 2008 05:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sam_gamgeeGaijin, Part 27/40
The complete header can be found in part 1.
Previous parts can be found here.
Rodney stretched luxuriously as he slowly woke up. Every morning should start like this, he decided. After the movie at Chuck’s the night before, he and Evan had stayed and the three of them had gone to bed. They had taken their time getting to know each other’s bodies in a way that they hadn’t done on the mainland and he had never felt so loved as he did with them. He leaned in and kissed the nape of Evan’s neck before carefully extricating himself from the bed.
He knew that it was still early as he went through his morning ablutions and dressed, but he wanted to check on Mary and her baby while things were still quiet. And he knew that even if things were supposed to be better, he didn’t want to endanger either of his lovers. He kissed Chuck on the temple once he was done, casting a longing look at his two lovers curled up together in bed.
When he got down to the infirmary, Mary was awake and feeding Jill. “How are you two doing?” he asked her with a warm smile.
“Great, thanks,” she replied. “I don’t know how I can thank you for what you did yesterday. That was just amazing. I’ll admit – while I was okay with being pregnant and with the whole idea of having a child and being a mother, I was scared about the actual delivery part. You know – you always hear horror stories about how long someone’s birth took, or how much it hurt, or that something went wrong, or – I’m sure you don’t want to hear this. But when you stepped in and took charge as if it was as natural as, well, as eating lunch, I knew everything was going to be okay even if the scenario wasn’t anything like the one I had pictured where I’d be in the infirmary with either Dr. Beckett or Dr. Biro helping me and a lot of pain killers.”
“I’ve heard it said that a baby’s birth is one of the most natural things in the world,” Rodney told her. “And you have the perfect body for it. And you really did all the work. I just kind of helped out a little. But don’t worry about thanking me – I’m just glad you’re both healthy.”
“Well, then maybe you can help me with one final thing. Dr. Beckett wanted to know what I wanted to have the baby’s middle name be and I’m completely stumped.” She laughed. “If only you were a woman, I could name her after you.”
Rodney chuckled as well. “Well, I’ve always been partial to the name Meredith,” he told her.
“Jillian Meredith,” she said and smiled. “I like it. Thank you again, Dr. McKay.”
“After all that, I think you should be calling me Rodney.” Just as Rodney was about to say good-bye, his earpiece squawked and he paused. At first nothing happened, but then he heard a heavy thump and a groan and Rodney felt a chill run down his spine. “I’ll see you later,” he told Mary as steadily as possible before practically running out of the infirmary.
He made it back to Chuck’s quarters in record time. As he carefully entered, nothing seemed amiss. Then he heard a groan coming from the bed and he practically flew to it. Both Chuck and Evan looked like they had been run over and there was blood staining the sheets.
“Oh, god,” Rodney replied. He dropped to his knees by Evan who was now on the floor and still unconscious, and carefully checked him out. His pulse was weak and slightly erratic, but he was still alive. He breathed a sigh of relief as Chuck groaned again. Rodney was on the bed in a flash, carefully keeping Chuck from trying to move. “Shh,” he told him. “Don’t move.”
Chuck froze. “What happened?” he asked raspily. “Is Evan –?”
“I don’t know,” Rodney replied. “Evan’s alive – he’s on the floor. Just stay still – I don’t want you to do any more damage. I’m going to call for help.” He clicked his earpiece. “Carson, I need a med team with two gurneys to Chuck Campbell’s quarters yesterday. And make sure it’s one that understands the meaning of discretion.”
It took what felt like forever for Carson and the medical team to arrive, even though Rodney knew that logically it had only been a few minutes. None of them seemed shocked or surprised by what they saw, though Rodney was sure it was because they had seen worse than two men who had been badly beaten. Before he knew it, Chuck and Evan had been stabilized and carefully loaded onto the gurneys; sheets granting them a bit of modesty. He followed after them as they were whisked down to the infirmary.
“What happened?” Carson asked Rodney as the rest of the staff swarmed around the injured men.
“I don’t know,” Rodney replied, his eyes not leaving Chuck and Lorne’s still forms. “I was down here visiting Mary to see how she and the baby were doing and my earpiece clicked and I heard a thump. When no one said anything after that, I knew something had happened.”
“I have to ask,” Carson told him quietly. “Are the three of you involved?”
Rodney nodded, not trusting his voice and not wanting the perpetrators to hear him if they happened to be around. “Believe me – I did not do this.”
“I highly doubt you would, Rodney,” Carson told him sincerely. “Whoever did this was a coward for attacking two men who were doing no one any harm.” He patted Rodney on the arm. “Try to relax. I’ll have some news for you as soon as we get them situated.”
Rodney crossed his arms over his chest as Carson walked away. He shouldn’t have gotten involved with Chuck and Evan. He began pacing while he waited, not taking his eyes off of either of his lovers for very long. Maybe he should go back to Earth once he knew they were okay. That way they’d be safe. He may not be with them, but he’d rather have them safe.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. If this was the work of someone who was out to get him, he doubted they would have done it in such an oblique and subtle way. No, this was the work of someone who had found out about Chuck and Evan and had objected to it. And if that was the case, the expedition had serious problems. He took a few more deep breaths to calm and collect himself. Either way, freaking out wouldn’t help anything and Chuck and Evan would need him to be the calm one when they woke up.
Carson pulled Rodney into his office when he and his staff had finished and Carson closed the door. “We’re going to have to keep them in the infirmary for a few days,” he told Rodney. “The good news is that Lorne’s leg is still intact and that, as far as we can tell, none of their injuries are life-threatening.”
“And the bad news?” Rodney forced himself to ask.
“They both have multiple rib fractures and extensive bruising. One of Chuck’s ankles is twisted and his shoulder was dislocated. One of Lorne’s shoulders was also dislocated, but it had been reset, possibly from when he hit the floor – which could have also been what knocked him unconscious because he’s got a large bump on the back of his head. As far as we can tell at this point, there hasn’t been any damage to their internal organs. I’ve got them heavily medicated for the time being to keep them from moving and making things worse, and also to get them through the worst of their pain. But it’ll be a few days before the swelling goes down enough that we’ll be able to know anything. And I doubt they’ll be very cognizant until then.”
“Thank you, Carson,” Rodney replied. “I’m going to sit with them for a while, okay?”
Carson gave him a wan smile. “Please, be my guest. Let me know if you need anything.”
Rodney found a chair and settled himself between them.
“What’s going on?” John asked, his eyes narrowing, when he came into the infirmary. “Why is my second-in-command in a hospital bed?”
“Hello to you too, Sheppard,” Rodney replied coldly as he stood. “Your second-in-command is in a hospital bed because he and Chuck were attacked this morning while they were still sleeping. Apparently, someone isn’t happy that someone actually decided to take advantage of your little memo.”
“And why are you here?” John asked.
“I was the one that found them – the specifics of which are none of your business.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Why are you here?”
“I was coming to check on the other men,” John replied defiantly. “Any idea who did this?”
“None. Any idea if there was anyone who could have done it?”
John shook his head. “Lorne was liked by everyone. And, as far as I know, everyone liked Chuck too. Either that or he was, you know, hardly a blip on the radar. The ‘Gate techs don’t get a lot of recognition.”
“Ain’t that the truth?” Rodney muttered under his breath.
“So, Lorne and Chuck are together?” John asked with a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure that’s the reason?”
“Yeah, it’s been a pretty new development,” Rodney replied, not completely comfortable with discussing their relationship – his relationship – with John without them there to add their input. “And I can’t think of any other reason why anyone would want to beat them up – it’s not like they have anything anyone else would want. If you’ll excuse me, I have a few things to take care of.”
Rodney didn’t wait for a reply before stalking out. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with John and his shit. Add in Chuck and Evan’s beating, and he wasn’t in the mood to deal with anyone. He headed back to Chuck’s quarters and began cleaning up.
He stripped the bed and put on clean sheets, not letting himself consider where – or how – Chuck had managed to get a bed big enough for the three of them. He threw the lightly soiled sheets into the laundry, thankful no blood had made it through to the mattress, before picked up Chuck and Evan’s clothes – which had been strewn about the room during a much more blissful event. He inspected the area around the bed and found that no blood had actually made it onto the floor.
Once that was done, he began gathering up his things – mostly CDs and DVDs, though also a few books and recent journals that he’d been given and a random shirt. He would have to arrange for his departure once he knew for certain that Evan and Chuck were on the mend. He didn’t want to cause them any more pain.
Rodney spent the next few days by their bedsides, feeling helpless as he watched their still forms sleeping. They had each woken a few times, but had been disoriented and a bit loopy from the pain killers and would fall back asleep soon after. Rodney only left the infirmary when Carson personally chased him out, insisting Rodney needed to eat and sleep, or he’d be useless for Chuck and Evan.
As he finished mending fences between one of the original scientists and a newer recruit on the fourth day, Carson’s voice came over his earpiece. “Rodney, could you please come down to the infirmary? Chuck and Lorne are asking for you.”
“I thought they were still on the heavy pain killers to help them heal,” Rodney told him, confused.
“We’ve been weaning them off of those, now that the worst should be over and the swelling is starting to recede. Besides, we needed to check them for brain damage. They’ve only really been cognizant within the past hour or so. We couldn’t exactly time that would happen and I doubt Radek would have appreciated me keeping you here.”
Rodney felt guilty that he hadn’t been there for when they woke, and wondered what they must have felt when they did. But today had been one of those days in the labs and Radek had need someone else with the know-how to help put out all the little fires that kept popping up. “Okay, I’ll be down right away.”
He quickly left the labs and made his way down to the infirmary, doing his best to move as quickly as possible without attracting any attention. Rodney paid no attention to most of the other occupants of the infirmary when he entered, though he did give Mary a small smile and wave. But he only had eyes for Chuck and Evan, both of whom looked at him as he entered, and they all carefully smiled.
“How are you two feeling?” he asked them. “Sorry. That’s a stupid question. I’m sure you both feel horrible.”
“That’s a reasonable estimation,” Chuck replied, taking Rodney’s hand. “How are you?”
“What do you mean, how am I? You’re the one in the bed,” Rodney replied indignantly.
“Keep breathing, Rodney,” Evan said from the other bed, as he took Rodney’s other hand.
Rodney did as he was told as he gently squeezed their hands, immensely grateful when they squeezed back. He sat down heavily in the chair that was still between their beds. He could have lost them. He could have lost them to some idiotic bastard who didn’t have enough sense in his head to know when to leave well enough alone.
“Sssh, it’s okay, Rodney,” Evan said quietly as he gently stroked the back of Rodney’s hand with his thumb.
“I could have lost both of you,” he told them as he blinked back tears.
“Or all three of us could be in beds right now – or worse,” Chuck told him. “Just be glad things turned out the way they did.”
Rodney nodded as he took a few deep breaths. “Carson knows about the three of us now, since I was the one that found you. And John knows about the two of you.”
“Well, he is smart enough to put more than two and two together,” Evan commented. “Does he know about you and us?”
“No. Things are crazy enough between us right now that I don’t want to add that into the mix. I’m sure he’ll come talk to you both at some point, though.”
“Well, John’s going to need to talk to us since he’s going to have to launch an inquiry,” Evan replied. “It’s a very serious matter when the second-in-command gets beaten up and there’s a chance that someone under him did it.”
Rodney hesitated before asking, “Do either of you know what happened?”
They both shook their heads and Evan said, “I remember you getting out of bed and wondering why the hell you would voluntarily get up if you didn’t have to, but then I fell back asleep before you left.”
Chuck added, “I never actually woke up until it was happening. Then I was more focused on the what than the who.”
Rodney took another deep breath. “I think that once this ‘thing’ gets settled and the two of you are back on your feet, I’m going to see about going back to Earth. I’m bad luck for whoever I get involved with. John’s a practically a basket case, Jaelyn died, and the two of you were nearly beaten to death.”
“Rodney,” Evan gently tugged on Rodney’s hand to get his attention. “What happened to Sheppard and Jaelyn wasn’t your fault. *This* wasn’t your fault. We all know how Sheppard is and if he was going to go into a major depressive state because of someone, it wouldn’t matter who the person was. You just happened to be the lucky guy who set him off. And, okay, yes, getting Jaelyn pregnant was your fault. But it wasn’t like you knew she would die because of it and did it intentionally.” Evan paused for a moment. “And as for Chuck and I – we probably could have been more discreet sometimes. It was bound to get out sooner or later – even with you unintentionally acting as our beard for a month and a half. Only so much could be explained by that.”
“But if you want to leave earlier,” Chuck added, “it’s up to you. We’re not going to stand in the way of your happiness.”
“No, I’m going to stay – at least for the interim,” Rodney told them. “I need to make sure you both will be okay, and I want to make sure that we find who did this to you and that he pays for what he did.”
“Are you okay, Rodney?” Evan asked, concern heavy in his voice.
“All things considered, just peachy,” he replied sarcastically. “Why?”
“Because you just went white as a sheet and clamped down on our hands,” Chuck told him. “Stay with us, Rodney.”
“Carson!” both Chuck and Evan bellowed.
“What’s going on now?” Carson asked as he came out of his office. “You two should be resting not yelling for me to fluff your pillows – especially when Rodney’s perfectly capable of doing so.” He caught a glimpse of Rodney and moved into action. He grabbed a piece of hard candy from his desk and, after unwrapping it, popped it into Rodney’s mouth. Rodney reflexively began sucking on it.
A moment or two later, the color started coming back into Rodney’s face and he slowly relaxed his grip on his lovers’ hands. He took a few deep breaths. “Okay, maybe I’m not feeling as good as I thought.”
“When was the last time you ate, lad?” Carson asked him softly.
“Um....” Rodney thought for a moment. “Last night. I got up this more and came in to the infirmary to check on Chuck and Evan before Radek called me down to the labs to help deal with the insanity before you called me back.”
“I want you to go down to the mess hall and eat a good meal. I don’t want you back here until you do. Neither of these two lads is going anywhere for a while and we can watch over them until you get back.”
Rodney looked questioningly between Chuck and Evan as they released his hands.
“If you don’t get moving, I’m going to get out of this bed and make you go myself,” Chuck told him. “You’re not any good to us if you can’t take care of yourself.”
“I agree,” Evan replied. “I’ll kick your ass down there if necessary. Besides, this will give us a good chance to get some more beauty sleep.”
“Okay, I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Rodney replied as he stood.
Rodney headed out of the infirmary after one last look at both men, wishing he could do something more than just hold their hands, but knew he was lucky he was able to do that much.
Rodney’s hope for a quick and quiet lunch was quickly shattered when he got person after person asking about either Mary and her baby or Chuck and Evan. How the information about Chuck and Evan had gotten out so quickly, Rodney didn’t know, but he wanted everyone to stop. It felt wrong giving everyone vague details about their condition and having to obfuscate the truth about their relationship.
Rodney was immeasurably glad when John appeared and told the small crowd that had formed to go away before he sat down with his own tray.
“Okay,” John told him without preamble. “We’ve got to do something about this.”
“What ‘we’?” Rodney replied, his eyes narrowing. “And what are you talking about?”
John dropped his voice so only Rodney could hear him. “I’m talking about what happened with Chuck and Lorne. We have to find out who did this and make sure they’re disciplined. I don’t want people to think they can get away with doing whatever they want here. And we as in you and me. I know I’ve given you a lot of shit lately and I’m sorry for that. But, if you’re willing, let’s put that aside – at least until we dealt with what happened to Chuck and Lorne.”
Rodney sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “If you’re using this as a bid to get back into my good graces, you can forget it. I’m sure you’ve got enough people to help you with your investigation.”
“You’re right, I do have enough people,” John replied as he leaned forward. “And I’m not – well, not intentionally. I know that all three of you are good friends and I thought it would make all three of you feel better if you were helping me lead the investigation. Plus, you know them the best out of anyone and could give us the best insight to what might have caused this. And if it helps us become friends again, that would be great. Heightmeyer told me about your talk and how you were worried about me. She’s going to be giving me shit for the next few weeks to make up for me holding out on her.”
“Maybe you deserve it,” Rodney replied shortly as he began eating again. “You’ve needed someone to kick your ass.”
“So,” John continued. “Will you help me?”
Rodney pointedly didn’t answer him for a few moments – both to let John squirm for a bit and also to give himself time to think about it. It would definitely feel good to make sure that the perpetrator was found and punished. As Chuck and Evan’s bound friend, he owed it to them to do so. And maybe, just maybe, it would help him even the score against whatever Fate was having fun at the expense of his love life – a kind of cosmic ‘take that, you’re not taking them that easily’. But the only way for that to completely work would mean he would then have to stay in Atlantis with them. And he didn’t know if he could do that. He didn’t want them to be subjected to any sort of cosmic backlash from his actions either.
He sighed and figured he’d take things one step at a time. “Okay, I’ll help you.”
John grinned. “Great. We can get started after we eat.”
Stepping into John’s office, Rodney said, “I didn’t know you had an office.” Looking around, he added, “It’s cleaner than I expected.”
“Very funny,” John replied as he locked the door behind them. “Can you think of anyone who would want to do this to either of them and why?” he asked as he sat down at his desk and began rooting around in his desk.
Rodney shook his head as he began pacing. “No. They haven’t mentioned any problems with anyone and I haven’t seen or heard anything. Lorne mentioned a few times that some of the Marines were grumbling, but that it was normal stuff – training schedules, mission schedules, things like that. And Chuck seemed to be friendly with everyone. I think Miko Kusenagi held a grudge for a while because he beat her in chess a few times, but, again, not something to nearly beat him to death over. Besides, we are talking about Miko, here. She wouldn’t have the strength to beat up Chuck, much less both of them, and she got her revenge on him last week anyway when she beat him in three moves. Do you know anything?”
John shook his head as well. “No, Lorne’s always been an exemplary officer and has done whatever he could to be fair to the rest of the soldiers here. So, as far as I know, they might have grumbled, but they knew he wasn’t giving anyone any preferential treatment. And everyone seems to love Chuck from what I’ve seen. Plus, the ‘Gate techs seem to have a bit of security from the fact that they work in the Control Room and know all the important stuff that’s going on as it happens. They’re prudent with handling what happens there, but I think everyone else feels like it’s in their best interests to not harm them.” John grinned. “The ‘Gate techs are the ones that run the grey market and keep the gossip mill going, you know.”
“I knew it!” Rodney remarked. “They’re low enough on the totem pole that people don’t usually give them a second thought and they use it to their advantage. Chuck never admitted to it, though.”
“Yeah, well,” John shrugged. “It’s not like the grey market is completely sanctioned by Elizabeth, so they keep it as hush-hush as possible, even if everyone knows about it. But they’re definitely the go-to people if you want anything.” He sighed as he opened up his laptop. “I really don’t know where to go from here. Do you think they might have been threatened over email and didn’t say anything to you?”
“Not to my knowledge,” Rodney replied, but he knew they hadn’t. “I’m sure they would have said something if they had.” Plus, he had been with them the last time they had checked their emails and had actually looked over their shoulders as they read. It had been kind of hard not to when they were all curled up on Chuck’s bed.
“Okay. We need to get organized – figure out how we want to question people. Make sure people have alibis and good reasons to not be at the scene. We’ll need to check that out too.”
Rodney looked sheepish. “I already cleaned it up. I needed something to do while Carson was working on them. I can give you a perfect description, though. I doubt I’m going to be forgetting it any time soon.”
“What were you doing there, anyway?” John asked.
Rodney hesitated, not wanting to tell John he had been there because he had a feeling something was wrong. “I was there because I wanted to see if Chuck was going to breakfast,” he finally obfuscated, hating that he was doing this to his former best friend. And he winced inwardly, knowing what would probably happen when the whole truth finally came out. If things had been okay, Rodney would have seen if Chuck wanted to go get breakfast. “I think we should start by seeing if anyone has an ax to grind either about gays in general, or about your memo, or both even. I hate to burst your bubble, but telling someone to ‘shape up or ship out’ isn’t exactly the best way of weeding out people who would have a problem. Being marked a bigot could be as bad as being marked gay.”
“Good point,” John replied. “But let’s not conclude that’s the reason for why they were beaten up.” He sighed as he pulled up the duty roster. “Okay, I think we can weed out the people who were on duty this morning in other parts of the city that would have no way of being there.” He tapped a few keys. “And I’ll confirm that they were actually at their posts.”
“I think you should also look at the scientists too,” Rodney replied. “At this point we have no idea who did it or why. I can tell you who would most likely be in the labs this morning and I’m sure we can corroborate that with Atlantis’ security feeds.” He paused for a moment before adding, “And we might want to consider more than one person. Considering the speed and brutality of the attack, I highly doubt it could have been only one person.”
“And you would know that how?” John asked as he looked up from the computer, his eyes narrowing. “Is there something you’re not telling me, Rodney?”
“I’d rather not discuss that right now,” Rodney replied. “But I promise that I’m not lying to you.”
“Okay,” John replied with a glare. “Who would have been in the labs this morning?”
Rodney ticked off the names easily. And each person he mentioned, he couldn’t believe would do that to them. As he finished, he said, “Put me down too – that way you know you can trust me. I was in the infirmary.”
John dutifully entered the names into his laptop and ran them, along with the names of his men, through a program to check Atlantis’ logs for their whereabouts at the time of the attack. As the names were slowly checked off the list and people were ascertained to be in their correct places, John commented, “One of the computer programmers developed this program a while back as a safe guard in the event that something happened – something about human nature. I had hoped we’d never need to use it.”
“And hopefully we won’t have to after this,” Rodney replied. “What are we going to do once we find whoever did this?”
“Well, if they are military, they’ll be shipped back to Earth for some severe penalties and possibly discharged. If they’re scientists, they’ll be deported as well, but after that, I don’t know. I doubt they’ll get off lightly, though.” The computer dinged. “Everyone checks out. At that time of morning, though, that still leaves a lot of people that could have done it.” John pressed a few more buttons to send the list to two data pads.
Rodney sighed. “I’ll talk to Radek and Elizabeth about being the civilian liaison for the investigation,” he said. “I doubt Radek will have a problem with it, considering how fond he seems to have become of Lorne since he started showing up in the labs with me. And I think he’ll be grateful that he won’t have to worry about finding someone to do it and keeping tabs on them.”
John picked up the data pads and handed one to Rodney. “Let’s get this show on the road,” he said as he stood. “I want to make sure people know that while I’m a laid-back kind of guy, I’m totally serious.”
As assumed, Radek was totally compliant with allowing Rodney to be in charge of the investigation and allowing them complete access to whatever they would need during their investigation. He even offered to be questioned first as a show of goodwill. They thanked him for the offer and told him they’d get back to him once they talked with Elizabeth.
They arrived at Elizabeth’s office at the same time she did. “I was just down in the infirmary,” she told them as they followed her into her office. “I take it the two of you are on top of this? And Radek has signed off on your involvement?” she asked Rodney.
“We are and he does,” Rodney replied with a slightly defiant tilt of his chin, as if daring her to question his role in the investigation.
“Good,” she replied simply as she sat down behind her desk. “I want regular reports on what’s happening. I don’t like that someone could have thought that this would be acceptable behavior and unstable enough to actually follow through with it. How far have you gotten?”
“I’ve already talked with Rodney about this, since he’s good friends with Chuck and Lorne, but we haven’t gotten very far in regards to motive or who might have done it. We’ve been able to rule out who couldn’t have done it,” John told her. “And we’re headed down to the infirmary now to talk to Lorne and Chuck and see what information they can give us. Hopefully that’ll help us narrow the list down even further. We’d rather not have to question everyone on the base.”
“All right, keep me posted. You’re dismissed.”
The two men nodded and headed out without another word. As they headed down the hall, Rodney remarked, “I’m surprised she didn’t put up more of a fight to keep me out of this.”
“I think she figures that you’ll keep me in line and keep me sane,” John comments.
“She might want to worry about it being the other way around,” Rodney told him, deadly serious. “They’re my best friends, John. I want blood.”
“I’m not going to promise anything,” John told him, “but let’s just say that I might not stop you if the situation presents itself.”
“Thank you.” Rodney didn’t really know what he would do, if faced with Chuck and Evan’s attackers. His normal response to give them a good tongue-lashing and then possibly beat them with a blunt object had been tempered by his time on Lapras, and the thought of leaving them out on the North Pier for a night or two sounded appealing as well. True, it was a harsher form of Lapran exile, but it felt fitting. The cold wind and the freezing spray would definitely give them second thoughts about doing it again and should serve as a fitting warning to anyone else.
“How are you two feeling?” Rodney asked Chuck and Evan as he and John approached their beds.
“Carson’s got some pretty good stuff,” Evan replied with a slightly goofy smile. “There definitely isn’t any more pain.”
“I concur,” Chuck replied with a tired smile.
“Who would’ve thought, Evan, you can’t handle a little morphine,” Rodney replied, unable to completely keep the affection out of his voice. “We need to talk to both of you about this morning.”
“We told you already,” Chuck pouted. “We don’t know what happened. We were sleep soundly – and we thought safely – and the next thing we knew, we were here, not feeling so hot.”
“So neither of you remember anything?” John asked.
“Nothing that would be of much help, sir,” Evan replied. “Things tend to not be very clear when you’re not completely cognizant to begin with and you’re more concerned with personal safety.”
“I don’t think we’re going to get much more out of them,” Rodney told John quietly. “They told me the same thing earlier. Let’s go talk to Carson about their injuries. Maybe that’ll give us a lead on who to question first.”
When they left the infirmary, Rodney felt more relieved at knowing that neither Chuck nor Evan had sustained any life-threatening injuries, even if they were going to be confined the infirmary for the time being to give them time to heal and to keep them safe. But they hadn’t been able to get much other information out of Carson. It had been an old-fashioned flesh-on-flesh sort of beating.
“Well, that should narrow things down a little bit, at least,” John replied. “There can’t be too many people out there with bruised knuckles. Though, I’m sure they probably got a few kicks in too, if Chuck and Lorne have some fractured and bruised ribs.”
“Lorne’s got the worst luck lately,” Rodney remarked. “First a broken leg, and now this. I’m surprised he hasn’t considered transferring back to Earth. It might be safer.”
“He’s as much a lifer as we are,” John commented. “I think the only way he’d go back to Earth permanently is if he died and didn’t leave a will that expressed his wishes. Let’s go start talking to people.”
Rodney quickly lost track of time as he and John tracked down people and questioned them. He was surprised at how unsurprised people were that Chuck and Evan were together. It seemed like everyone either knew or figured. And a couple people even made snide comments implicating Rodney with them as well. He did his best to ignore them.
Both Rodney and John were surprised at how many people seemed to be against homosexuality. But they were thankful that most of the people they talked to thought it was wrong, but didn’t care who did what behind closed doors as long as it didn’t put anyone in danger.
It took them two days to go through everyone and by the time they were done, only a small handful of people remained on the list. They were people who were vehemently against gays and whose whereabouts couldn’t be corroborated by either anyone else or the computer system.
“This may be a stupid question, since I’m so tired,” Rodney said as he laid his head on his arms. “But, why haven’t we just checked the feeds for Chuck’s quarters and the hallway outside at the time of the attack?”
“Because we already did,” John told him with a tired sigh as he put his feet up on his desk. “It was one of the first things we did after we talked with Chuck and Lorne, remember? The Ancients didn’t set up video cameras in their quarters and the hallway outside of Chuck’s quarters had been tampered with. That’s why we’re going about this the old-fashioned way. Okay, we’re going to have to question these guys again.”
“Colonel Sheppard?” a tentative voice came from the doorway.
“Come on in, Miller. What can I do for you?” John asked.
“I have some information about the investigation,” he replied hesitantly.
Rodney’s head shot up and John’s feet hit the floor. “Why didn’t you come to us two days ago?” Rodney barked.
“Because I just found out,” Miller replied nervously. “By accident,” he added quickly.
John shut the door behind Miller and locked it. “Out with it,” John ordered him.
“It was Captain Lorson and Dr. Zevtsky. I heard them gloating about it and how they were never going to get caught.”
Rodney grabbed John’s data pad and pulled up the list. “They probably would have gotten away with it too,” he told John. “They’re not even on the list. And Zevtsky is a computer engineer. He could have easily hacked into the feeds and fixed the system and also made sure the program didn’t pick up that he and Lorson weren’t where they were supposed to be.”
“Thanks, Miller. You’re dismissed,” John told him as he stood. “We’ll take it from here.”
“They were down in the mess hall a few minutes ago,” Miller told them before he left.
“Feel like getting a snack?” John asked Rodney.
John and Rodney marched a mutinous Lorson and Zevtsky into Elizabeth’s office a few minutes later and pushed them down into chairs in front of her desk.
She looked up at them, confused for a moment before realization dawned and her mouth set in a grim line. “I see you found them,” she commented. She tapped her earpiece and said, “Dr. Zelenka, please report to my office.”
“You can’t do this to us,” Zevtsky said, starting to get up, but Rodney’s firm hands kept him in his seat. “We have rights.”
“So do Lorne and Chuck,” Rodney told him. “And right now I think they’d be pretty happy to know that the two of you are in custody.”
Radek appeared in Elizabeth’s doorway and Elizabeth shut the doors and darkened the glass to give them some measure of privacy.
“So what do you two men have to say for yourselves?” Elizabeth asked them.
Lorson continued to glare mutinously straight ahead and didn’t say a word, but Zevtsky hotly answered, “They deserved it. What they’re doing is unnatural.”
“That doesn’t mean you have the right to practically beat them to death,” Rodney told him, as he clamped down on Zevtsky’s shoulders, satisfied at the slight whimper his grip produced.
“You two are to be held in the brig until we get everything in order to send you back to Earth,” Elizabeth pronounced. “And, Rodney, I know you want justice, but if they don’t go straight to the brig and stay there – unharmed – until it’s time for them to leave, you’ll be going with them. John, I trust you’ll make sure he doesn’t earn himself an unnecessary ticket home.”
They both nodded as they hauled the offenders to their feet and marched them out of the office.
Once the men were in the brig, John pulled Rodney away and escorted him to the infirmary. “I think we have our work cut out for us,” John commented on the way. “I didn’t think that many people shared that view, and apparently just a memo won’t work. We’ll need to implement something larger – some sort of sensitivity training or something. Care to help me out?”
“Maybe,” Rodney replied, in a quandary now as to what to do. Evan and Chuck would be released within the next few days and after that he would have to make a decision. But that could wait. “Right now I just want to check on Lorne and Chuck and then get some sleep.”
Continue to Part 28
The complete header can be found in part 1.
Previous parts can be found here.
Rodney stretched luxuriously as he slowly woke up. Every morning should start like this, he decided. After the movie at Chuck’s the night before, he and Evan had stayed and the three of them had gone to bed. They had taken their time getting to know each other’s bodies in a way that they hadn’t done on the mainland and he had never felt so loved as he did with them. He leaned in and kissed the nape of Evan’s neck before carefully extricating himself from the bed.
He knew that it was still early as he went through his morning ablutions and dressed, but he wanted to check on Mary and her baby while things were still quiet. And he knew that even if things were supposed to be better, he didn’t want to endanger either of his lovers. He kissed Chuck on the temple once he was done, casting a longing look at his two lovers curled up together in bed.
When he got down to the infirmary, Mary was awake and feeding Jill. “How are you two doing?” he asked her with a warm smile.
“Great, thanks,” she replied. “I don’t know how I can thank you for what you did yesterday. That was just amazing. I’ll admit – while I was okay with being pregnant and with the whole idea of having a child and being a mother, I was scared about the actual delivery part. You know – you always hear horror stories about how long someone’s birth took, or how much it hurt, or that something went wrong, or – I’m sure you don’t want to hear this. But when you stepped in and took charge as if it was as natural as, well, as eating lunch, I knew everything was going to be okay even if the scenario wasn’t anything like the one I had pictured where I’d be in the infirmary with either Dr. Beckett or Dr. Biro helping me and a lot of pain killers.”
“I’ve heard it said that a baby’s birth is one of the most natural things in the world,” Rodney told her. “And you have the perfect body for it. And you really did all the work. I just kind of helped out a little. But don’t worry about thanking me – I’m just glad you’re both healthy.”
“Well, then maybe you can help me with one final thing. Dr. Beckett wanted to know what I wanted to have the baby’s middle name be and I’m completely stumped.” She laughed. “If only you were a woman, I could name her after you.”
Rodney chuckled as well. “Well, I’ve always been partial to the name Meredith,” he told her.
“Jillian Meredith,” she said and smiled. “I like it. Thank you again, Dr. McKay.”
“After all that, I think you should be calling me Rodney.” Just as Rodney was about to say good-bye, his earpiece squawked and he paused. At first nothing happened, but then he heard a heavy thump and a groan and Rodney felt a chill run down his spine. “I’ll see you later,” he told Mary as steadily as possible before practically running out of the infirmary.
He made it back to Chuck’s quarters in record time. As he carefully entered, nothing seemed amiss. Then he heard a groan coming from the bed and he practically flew to it. Both Chuck and Evan looked like they had been run over and there was blood staining the sheets.
“Oh, god,” Rodney replied. He dropped to his knees by Evan who was now on the floor and still unconscious, and carefully checked him out. His pulse was weak and slightly erratic, but he was still alive. He breathed a sigh of relief as Chuck groaned again. Rodney was on the bed in a flash, carefully keeping Chuck from trying to move. “Shh,” he told him. “Don’t move.”
Chuck froze. “What happened?” he asked raspily. “Is Evan –?”
“I don’t know,” Rodney replied. “Evan’s alive – he’s on the floor. Just stay still – I don’t want you to do any more damage. I’m going to call for help.” He clicked his earpiece. “Carson, I need a med team with two gurneys to Chuck Campbell’s quarters yesterday. And make sure it’s one that understands the meaning of discretion.”
It took what felt like forever for Carson and the medical team to arrive, even though Rodney knew that logically it had only been a few minutes. None of them seemed shocked or surprised by what they saw, though Rodney was sure it was because they had seen worse than two men who had been badly beaten. Before he knew it, Chuck and Evan had been stabilized and carefully loaded onto the gurneys; sheets granting them a bit of modesty. He followed after them as they were whisked down to the infirmary.
“What happened?” Carson asked Rodney as the rest of the staff swarmed around the injured men.
“I don’t know,” Rodney replied, his eyes not leaving Chuck and Lorne’s still forms. “I was down here visiting Mary to see how she and the baby were doing and my earpiece clicked and I heard a thump. When no one said anything after that, I knew something had happened.”
“I have to ask,” Carson told him quietly. “Are the three of you involved?”
Rodney nodded, not trusting his voice and not wanting the perpetrators to hear him if they happened to be around. “Believe me – I did not do this.”
“I highly doubt you would, Rodney,” Carson told him sincerely. “Whoever did this was a coward for attacking two men who were doing no one any harm.” He patted Rodney on the arm. “Try to relax. I’ll have some news for you as soon as we get them situated.”
Rodney crossed his arms over his chest as Carson walked away. He shouldn’t have gotten involved with Chuck and Evan. He began pacing while he waited, not taking his eyes off of either of his lovers for very long. Maybe he should go back to Earth once he knew they were okay. That way they’d be safe. He may not be with them, but he’d rather have them safe.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. If this was the work of someone who was out to get him, he doubted they would have done it in such an oblique and subtle way. No, this was the work of someone who had found out about Chuck and Evan and had objected to it. And if that was the case, the expedition had serious problems. He took a few more deep breaths to calm and collect himself. Either way, freaking out wouldn’t help anything and Chuck and Evan would need him to be the calm one when they woke up.
Carson pulled Rodney into his office when he and his staff had finished and Carson closed the door. “We’re going to have to keep them in the infirmary for a few days,” he told Rodney. “The good news is that Lorne’s leg is still intact and that, as far as we can tell, none of their injuries are life-threatening.”
“And the bad news?” Rodney forced himself to ask.
“They both have multiple rib fractures and extensive bruising. One of Chuck’s ankles is twisted and his shoulder was dislocated. One of Lorne’s shoulders was also dislocated, but it had been reset, possibly from when he hit the floor – which could have also been what knocked him unconscious because he’s got a large bump on the back of his head. As far as we can tell at this point, there hasn’t been any damage to their internal organs. I’ve got them heavily medicated for the time being to keep them from moving and making things worse, and also to get them through the worst of their pain. But it’ll be a few days before the swelling goes down enough that we’ll be able to know anything. And I doubt they’ll be very cognizant until then.”
“Thank you, Carson,” Rodney replied. “I’m going to sit with them for a while, okay?”
Carson gave him a wan smile. “Please, be my guest. Let me know if you need anything.”
Rodney found a chair and settled himself between them.
“What’s going on?” John asked, his eyes narrowing, when he came into the infirmary. “Why is my second-in-command in a hospital bed?”
“Hello to you too, Sheppard,” Rodney replied coldly as he stood. “Your second-in-command is in a hospital bed because he and Chuck were attacked this morning while they were still sleeping. Apparently, someone isn’t happy that someone actually decided to take advantage of your little memo.”
“And why are you here?” John asked.
“I was the one that found them – the specifics of which are none of your business.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Why are you here?”
“I was coming to check on the other men,” John replied defiantly. “Any idea who did this?”
“None. Any idea if there was anyone who could have done it?”
John shook his head. “Lorne was liked by everyone. And, as far as I know, everyone liked Chuck too. Either that or he was, you know, hardly a blip on the radar. The ‘Gate techs don’t get a lot of recognition.”
“Ain’t that the truth?” Rodney muttered under his breath.
“So, Lorne and Chuck are together?” John asked with a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure that’s the reason?”
“Yeah, it’s been a pretty new development,” Rodney replied, not completely comfortable with discussing their relationship – his relationship – with John without them there to add their input. “And I can’t think of any other reason why anyone would want to beat them up – it’s not like they have anything anyone else would want. If you’ll excuse me, I have a few things to take care of.”
Rodney didn’t wait for a reply before stalking out. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with John and his shit. Add in Chuck and Evan’s beating, and he wasn’t in the mood to deal with anyone. He headed back to Chuck’s quarters and began cleaning up.
He stripped the bed and put on clean sheets, not letting himself consider where – or how – Chuck had managed to get a bed big enough for the three of them. He threw the lightly soiled sheets into the laundry, thankful no blood had made it through to the mattress, before picked up Chuck and Evan’s clothes – which had been strewn about the room during a much more blissful event. He inspected the area around the bed and found that no blood had actually made it onto the floor.
Once that was done, he began gathering up his things – mostly CDs and DVDs, though also a few books and recent journals that he’d been given and a random shirt. He would have to arrange for his departure once he knew for certain that Evan and Chuck were on the mend. He didn’t want to cause them any more pain.
Rodney spent the next few days by their bedsides, feeling helpless as he watched their still forms sleeping. They had each woken a few times, but had been disoriented and a bit loopy from the pain killers and would fall back asleep soon after. Rodney only left the infirmary when Carson personally chased him out, insisting Rodney needed to eat and sleep, or he’d be useless for Chuck and Evan.
As he finished mending fences between one of the original scientists and a newer recruit on the fourth day, Carson’s voice came over his earpiece. “Rodney, could you please come down to the infirmary? Chuck and Lorne are asking for you.”
“I thought they were still on the heavy pain killers to help them heal,” Rodney told him, confused.
“We’ve been weaning them off of those, now that the worst should be over and the swelling is starting to recede. Besides, we needed to check them for brain damage. They’ve only really been cognizant within the past hour or so. We couldn’t exactly time that would happen and I doubt Radek would have appreciated me keeping you here.”
Rodney felt guilty that he hadn’t been there for when they woke, and wondered what they must have felt when they did. But today had been one of those days in the labs and Radek had need someone else with the know-how to help put out all the little fires that kept popping up. “Okay, I’ll be down right away.”
He quickly left the labs and made his way down to the infirmary, doing his best to move as quickly as possible without attracting any attention. Rodney paid no attention to most of the other occupants of the infirmary when he entered, though he did give Mary a small smile and wave. But he only had eyes for Chuck and Evan, both of whom looked at him as he entered, and they all carefully smiled.
“How are you two feeling?” he asked them. “Sorry. That’s a stupid question. I’m sure you both feel horrible.”
“That’s a reasonable estimation,” Chuck replied, taking Rodney’s hand. “How are you?”
“What do you mean, how am I? You’re the one in the bed,” Rodney replied indignantly.
“Keep breathing, Rodney,” Evan said from the other bed, as he took Rodney’s other hand.
Rodney did as he was told as he gently squeezed their hands, immensely grateful when they squeezed back. He sat down heavily in the chair that was still between their beds. He could have lost them. He could have lost them to some idiotic bastard who didn’t have enough sense in his head to know when to leave well enough alone.
“Sssh, it’s okay, Rodney,” Evan said quietly as he gently stroked the back of Rodney’s hand with his thumb.
“I could have lost both of you,” he told them as he blinked back tears.
“Or all three of us could be in beds right now – or worse,” Chuck told him. “Just be glad things turned out the way they did.”
Rodney nodded as he took a few deep breaths. “Carson knows about the three of us now, since I was the one that found you. And John knows about the two of you.”
“Well, he is smart enough to put more than two and two together,” Evan commented. “Does he know about you and us?”
“No. Things are crazy enough between us right now that I don’t want to add that into the mix. I’m sure he’ll come talk to you both at some point, though.”
“Well, John’s going to need to talk to us since he’s going to have to launch an inquiry,” Evan replied. “It’s a very serious matter when the second-in-command gets beaten up and there’s a chance that someone under him did it.”
Rodney hesitated before asking, “Do either of you know what happened?”
They both shook their heads and Evan said, “I remember you getting out of bed and wondering why the hell you would voluntarily get up if you didn’t have to, but then I fell back asleep before you left.”
Chuck added, “I never actually woke up until it was happening. Then I was more focused on the what than the who.”
Rodney took another deep breath. “I think that once this ‘thing’ gets settled and the two of you are back on your feet, I’m going to see about going back to Earth. I’m bad luck for whoever I get involved with. John’s a practically a basket case, Jaelyn died, and the two of you were nearly beaten to death.”
“Rodney,” Evan gently tugged on Rodney’s hand to get his attention. “What happened to Sheppard and Jaelyn wasn’t your fault. *This* wasn’t your fault. We all know how Sheppard is and if he was going to go into a major depressive state because of someone, it wouldn’t matter who the person was. You just happened to be the lucky guy who set him off. And, okay, yes, getting Jaelyn pregnant was your fault. But it wasn’t like you knew she would die because of it and did it intentionally.” Evan paused for a moment. “And as for Chuck and I – we probably could have been more discreet sometimes. It was bound to get out sooner or later – even with you unintentionally acting as our beard for a month and a half. Only so much could be explained by that.”
“But if you want to leave earlier,” Chuck added, “it’s up to you. We’re not going to stand in the way of your happiness.”
“No, I’m going to stay – at least for the interim,” Rodney told them. “I need to make sure you both will be okay, and I want to make sure that we find who did this to you and that he pays for what he did.”
“Are you okay, Rodney?” Evan asked, concern heavy in his voice.
“All things considered, just peachy,” he replied sarcastically. “Why?”
“Because you just went white as a sheet and clamped down on our hands,” Chuck told him. “Stay with us, Rodney.”
“Carson!” both Chuck and Evan bellowed.
“What’s going on now?” Carson asked as he came out of his office. “You two should be resting not yelling for me to fluff your pillows – especially when Rodney’s perfectly capable of doing so.” He caught a glimpse of Rodney and moved into action. He grabbed a piece of hard candy from his desk and, after unwrapping it, popped it into Rodney’s mouth. Rodney reflexively began sucking on it.
A moment or two later, the color started coming back into Rodney’s face and he slowly relaxed his grip on his lovers’ hands. He took a few deep breaths. “Okay, maybe I’m not feeling as good as I thought.”
“When was the last time you ate, lad?” Carson asked him softly.
“Um....” Rodney thought for a moment. “Last night. I got up this more and came in to the infirmary to check on Chuck and Evan before Radek called me down to the labs to help deal with the insanity before you called me back.”
“I want you to go down to the mess hall and eat a good meal. I don’t want you back here until you do. Neither of these two lads is going anywhere for a while and we can watch over them until you get back.”
Rodney looked questioningly between Chuck and Evan as they released his hands.
“If you don’t get moving, I’m going to get out of this bed and make you go myself,” Chuck told him. “You’re not any good to us if you can’t take care of yourself.”
“I agree,” Evan replied. “I’ll kick your ass down there if necessary. Besides, this will give us a good chance to get some more beauty sleep.”
“Okay, I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Rodney replied as he stood.
Rodney headed out of the infirmary after one last look at both men, wishing he could do something more than just hold their hands, but knew he was lucky he was able to do that much.
Rodney’s hope for a quick and quiet lunch was quickly shattered when he got person after person asking about either Mary and her baby or Chuck and Evan. How the information about Chuck and Evan had gotten out so quickly, Rodney didn’t know, but he wanted everyone to stop. It felt wrong giving everyone vague details about their condition and having to obfuscate the truth about their relationship.
Rodney was immeasurably glad when John appeared and told the small crowd that had formed to go away before he sat down with his own tray.
“Okay,” John told him without preamble. “We’ve got to do something about this.”
“What ‘we’?” Rodney replied, his eyes narrowing. “And what are you talking about?”
John dropped his voice so only Rodney could hear him. “I’m talking about what happened with Chuck and Lorne. We have to find out who did this and make sure they’re disciplined. I don’t want people to think they can get away with doing whatever they want here. And we as in you and me. I know I’ve given you a lot of shit lately and I’m sorry for that. But, if you’re willing, let’s put that aside – at least until we dealt with what happened to Chuck and Lorne.”
Rodney sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “If you’re using this as a bid to get back into my good graces, you can forget it. I’m sure you’ve got enough people to help you with your investigation.”
“You’re right, I do have enough people,” John replied as he leaned forward. “And I’m not – well, not intentionally. I know that all three of you are good friends and I thought it would make all three of you feel better if you were helping me lead the investigation. Plus, you know them the best out of anyone and could give us the best insight to what might have caused this. And if it helps us become friends again, that would be great. Heightmeyer told me about your talk and how you were worried about me. She’s going to be giving me shit for the next few weeks to make up for me holding out on her.”
“Maybe you deserve it,” Rodney replied shortly as he began eating again. “You’ve needed someone to kick your ass.”
“So,” John continued. “Will you help me?”
Rodney pointedly didn’t answer him for a few moments – both to let John squirm for a bit and also to give himself time to think about it. It would definitely feel good to make sure that the perpetrator was found and punished. As Chuck and Evan’s bound friend, he owed it to them to do so. And maybe, just maybe, it would help him even the score against whatever Fate was having fun at the expense of his love life – a kind of cosmic ‘take that, you’re not taking them that easily’. But the only way for that to completely work would mean he would then have to stay in Atlantis with them. And he didn’t know if he could do that. He didn’t want them to be subjected to any sort of cosmic backlash from his actions either.
He sighed and figured he’d take things one step at a time. “Okay, I’ll help you.”
John grinned. “Great. We can get started after we eat.”
Stepping into John’s office, Rodney said, “I didn’t know you had an office.” Looking around, he added, “It’s cleaner than I expected.”
“Very funny,” John replied as he locked the door behind them. “Can you think of anyone who would want to do this to either of them and why?” he asked as he sat down at his desk and began rooting around in his desk.
Rodney shook his head as he began pacing. “No. They haven’t mentioned any problems with anyone and I haven’t seen or heard anything. Lorne mentioned a few times that some of the Marines were grumbling, but that it was normal stuff – training schedules, mission schedules, things like that. And Chuck seemed to be friendly with everyone. I think Miko Kusenagi held a grudge for a while because he beat her in chess a few times, but, again, not something to nearly beat him to death over. Besides, we are talking about Miko, here. She wouldn’t have the strength to beat up Chuck, much less both of them, and she got her revenge on him last week anyway when she beat him in three moves. Do you know anything?”
John shook his head as well. “No, Lorne’s always been an exemplary officer and has done whatever he could to be fair to the rest of the soldiers here. So, as far as I know, they might have grumbled, but they knew he wasn’t giving anyone any preferential treatment. And everyone seems to love Chuck from what I’ve seen. Plus, the ‘Gate techs seem to have a bit of security from the fact that they work in the Control Room and know all the important stuff that’s going on as it happens. They’re prudent with handling what happens there, but I think everyone else feels like it’s in their best interests to not harm them.” John grinned. “The ‘Gate techs are the ones that run the grey market and keep the gossip mill going, you know.”
“I knew it!” Rodney remarked. “They’re low enough on the totem pole that people don’t usually give them a second thought and they use it to their advantage. Chuck never admitted to it, though.”
“Yeah, well,” John shrugged. “It’s not like the grey market is completely sanctioned by Elizabeth, so they keep it as hush-hush as possible, even if everyone knows about it. But they’re definitely the go-to people if you want anything.” He sighed as he opened up his laptop. “I really don’t know where to go from here. Do you think they might have been threatened over email and didn’t say anything to you?”
“Not to my knowledge,” Rodney replied, but he knew they hadn’t. “I’m sure they would have said something if they had.” Plus, he had been with them the last time they had checked their emails and had actually looked over their shoulders as they read. It had been kind of hard not to when they were all curled up on Chuck’s bed.
“Okay. We need to get organized – figure out how we want to question people. Make sure people have alibis and good reasons to not be at the scene. We’ll need to check that out too.”
Rodney looked sheepish. “I already cleaned it up. I needed something to do while Carson was working on them. I can give you a perfect description, though. I doubt I’m going to be forgetting it any time soon.”
“What were you doing there, anyway?” John asked.
Rodney hesitated, not wanting to tell John he had been there because he had a feeling something was wrong. “I was there because I wanted to see if Chuck was going to breakfast,” he finally obfuscated, hating that he was doing this to his former best friend. And he winced inwardly, knowing what would probably happen when the whole truth finally came out. If things had been okay, Rodney would have seen if Chuck wanted to go get breakfast. “I think we should start by seeing if anyone has an ax to grind either about gays in general, or about your memo, or both even. I hate to burst your bubble, but telling someone to ‘shape up or ship out’ isn’t exactly the best way of weeding out people who would have a problem. Being marked a bigot could be as bad as being marked gay.”
“Good point,” John replied. “But let’s not conclude that’s the reason for why they were beaten up.” He sighed as he pulled up the duty roster. “Okay, I think we can weed out the people who were on duty this morning in other parts of the city that would have no way of being there.” He tapped a few keys. “And I’ll confirm that they were actually at their posts.”
“I think you should also look at the scientists too,” Rodney replied. “At this point we have no idea who did it or why. I can tell you who would most likely be in the labs this morning and I’m sure we can corroborate that with Atlantis’ security feeds.” He paused for a moment before adding, “And we might want to consider more than one person. Considering the speed and brutality of the attack, I highly doubt it could have been only one person.”
“And you would know that how?” John asked as he looked up from the computer, his eyes narrowing. “Is there something you’re not telling me, Rodney?”
“I’d rather not discuss that right now,” Rodney replied. “But I promise that I’m not lying to you.”
“Okay,” John replied with a glare. “Who would have been in the labs this morning?”
Rodney ticked off the names easily. And each person he mentioned, he couldn’t believe would do that to them. As he finished, he said, “Put me down too – that way you know you can trust me. I was in the infirmary.”
John dutifully entered the names into his laptop and ran them, along with the names of his men, through a program to check Atlantis’ logs for their whereabouts at the time of the attack. As the names were slowly checked off the list and people were ascertained to be in their correct places, John commented, “One of the computer programmers developed this program a while back as a safe guard in the event that something happened – something about human nature. I had hoped we’d never need to use it.”
“And hopefully we won’t have to after this,” Rodney replied. “What are we going to do once we find whoever did this?”
“Well, if they are military, they’ll be shipped back to Earth for some severe penalties and possibly discharged. If they’re scientists, they’ll be deported as well, but after that, I don’t know. I doubt they’ll get off lightly, though.” The computer dinged. “Everyone checks out. At that time of morning, though, that still leaves a lot of people that could have done it.” John pressed a few more buttons to send the list to two data pads.
Rodney sighed. “I’ll talk to Radek and Elizabeth about being the civilian liaison for the investigation,” he said. “I doubt Radek will have a problem with it, considering how fond he seems to have become of Lorne since he started showing up in the labs with me. And I think he’ll be grateful that he won’t have to worry about finding someone to do it and keeping tabs on them.”
John picked up the data pads and handed one to Rodney. “Let’s get this show on the road,” he said as he stood. “I want to make sure people know that while I’m a laid-back kind of guy, I’m totally serious.”
As assumed, Radek was totally compliant with allowing Rodney to be in charge of the investigation and allowing them complete access to whatever they would need during their investigation. He even offered to be questioned first as a show of goodwill. They thanked him for the offer and told him they’d get back to him once they talked with Elizabeth.
They arrived at Elizabeth’s office at the same time she did. “I was just down in the infirmary,” she told them as they followed her into her office. “I take it the two of you are on top of this? And Radek has signed off on your involvement?” she asked Rodney.
“We are and he does,” Rodney replied with a slightly defiant tilt of his chin, as if daring her to question his role in the investigation.
“Good,” she replied simply as she sat down behind her desk. “I want regular reports on what’s happening. I don’t like that someone could have thought that this would be acceptable behavior and unstable enough to actually follow through with it. How far have you gotten?”
“I’ve already talked with Rodney about this, since he’s good friends with Chuck and Lorne, but we haven’t gotten very far in regards to motive or who might have done it. We’ve been able to rule out who couldn’t have done it,” John told her. “And we’re headed down to the infirmary now to talk to Lorne and Chuck and see what information they can give us. Hopefully that’ll help us narrow the list down even further. We’d rather not have to question everyone on the base.”
“All right, keep me posted. You’re dismissed.”
The two men nodded and headed out without another word. As they headed down the hall, Rodney remarked, “I’m surprised she didn’t put up more of a fight to keep me out of this.”
“I think she figures that you’ll keep me in line and keep me sane,” John comments.
“She might want to worry about it being the other way around,” Rodney told him, deadly serious. “They’re my best friends, John. I want blood.”
“I’m not going to promise anything,” John told him, “but let’s just say that I might not stop you if the situation presents itself.”
“Thank you.” Rodney didn’t really know what he would do, if faced with Chuck and Evan’s attackers. His normal response to give them a good tongue-lashing and then possibly beat them with a blunt object had been tempered by his time on Lapras, and the thought of leaving them out on the North Pier for a night or two sounded appealing as well. True, it was a harsher form of Lapran exile, but it felt fitting. The cold wind and the freezing spray would definitely give them second thoughts about doing it again and should serve as a fitting warning to anyone else.
“How are you two feeling?” Rodney asked Chuck and Evan as he and John approached their beds.
“Carson’s got some pretty good stuff,” Evan replied with a slightly goofy smile. “There definitely isn’t any more pain.”
“I concur,” Chuck replied with a tired smile.
“Who would’ve thought, Evan, you can’t handle a little morphine,” Rodney replied, unable to completely keep the affection out of his voice. “We need to talk to both of you about this morning.”
“We told you already,” Chuck pouted. “We don’t know what happened. We were sleep soundly – and we thought safely – and the next thing we knew, we were here, not feeling so hot.”
“So neither of you remember anything?” John asked.
“Nothing that would be of much help, sir,” Evan replied. “Things tend to not be very clear when you’re not completely cognizant to begin with and you’re more concerned with personal safety.”
“I don’t think we’re going to get much more out of them,” Rodney told John quietly. “They told me the same thing earlier. Let’s go talk to Carson about their injuries. Maybe that’ll give us a lead on who to question first.”
When they left the infirmary, Rodney felt more relieved at knowing that neither Chuck nor Evan had sustained any life-threatening injuries, even if they were going to be confined the infirmary for the time being to give them time to heal and to keep them safe. But they hadn’t been able to get much other information out of Carson. It had been an old-fashioned flesh-on-flesh sort of beating.
“Well, that should narrow things down a little bit, at least,” John replied. “There can’t be too many people out there with bruised knuckles. Though, I’m sure they probably got a few kicks in too, if Chuck and Lorne have some fractured and bruised ribs.”
“Lorne’s got the worst luck lately,” Rodney remarked. “First a broken leg, and now this. I’m surprised he hasn’t considered transferring back to Earth. It might be safer.”
“He’s as much a lifer as we are,” John commented. “I think the only way he’d go back to Earth permanently is if he died and didn’t leave a will that expressed his wishes. Let’s go start talking to people.”
Rodney quickly lost track of time as he and John tracked down people and questioned them. He was surprised at how unsurprised people were that Chuck and Evan were together. It seemed like everyone either knew or figured. And a couple people even made snide comments implicating Rodney with them as well. He did his best to ignore them.
Both Rodney and John were surprised at how many people seemed to be against homosexuality. But they were thankful that most of the people they talked to thought it was wrong, but didn’t care who did what behind closed doors as long as it didn’t put anyone in danger.
It took them two days to go through everyone and by the time they were done, only a small handful of people remained on the list. They were people who were vehemently against gays and whose whereabouts couldn’t be corroborated by either anyone else or the computer system.
“This may be a stupid question, since I’m so tired,” Rodney said as he laid his head on his arms. “But, why haven’t we just checked the feeds for Chuck’s quarters and the hallway outside at the time of the attack?”
“Because we already did,” John told him with a tired sigh as he put his feet up on his desk. “It was one of the first things we did after we talked with Chuck and Lorne, remember? The Ancients didn’t set up video cameras in their quarters and the hallway outside of Chuck’s quarters had been tampered with. That’s why we’re going about this the old-fashioned way. Okay, we’re going to have to question these guys again.”
“Colonel Sheppard?” a tentative voice came from the doorway.
“Come on in, Miller. What can I do for you?” John asked.
“I have some information about the investigation,” he replied hesitantly.
Rodney’s head shot up and John’s feet hit the floor. “Why didn’t you come to us two days ago?” Rodney barked.
“Because I just found out,” Miller replied nervously. “By accident,” he added quickly.
John shut the door behind Miller and locked it. “Out with it,” John ordered him.
“It was Captain Lorson and Dr. Zevtsky. I heard them gloating about it and how they were never going to get caught.”
Rodney grabbed John’s data pad and pulled up the list. “They probably would have gotten away with it too,” he told John. “They’re not even on the list. And Zevtsky is a computer engineer. He could have easily hacked into the feeds and fixed the system and also made sure the program didn’t pick up that he and Lorson weren’t where they were supposed to be.”
“Thanks, Miller. You’re dismissed,” John told him as he stood. “We’ll take it from here.”
“They were down in the mess hall a few minutes ago,” Miller told them before he left.
“Feel like getting a snack?” John asked Rodney.
John and Rodney marched a mutinous Lorson and Zevtsky into Elizabeth’s office a few minutes later and pushed them down into chairs in front of her desk.
She looked up at them, confused for a moment before realization dawned and her mouth set in a grim line. “I see you found them,” she commented. She tapped her earpiece and said, “Dr. Zelenka, please report to my office.”
“You can’t do this to us,” Zevtsky said, starting to get up, but Rodney’s firm hands kept him in his seat. “We have rights.”
“So do Lorne and Chuck,” Rodney told him. “And right now I think they’d be pretty happy to know that the two of you are in custody.”
Radek appeared in Elizabeth’s doorway and Elizabeth shut the doors and darkened the glass to give them some measure of privacy.
“So what do you two men have to say for yourselves?” Elizabeth asked them.
Lorson continued to glare mutinously straight ahead and didn’t say a word, but Zevtsky hotly answered, “They deserved it. What they’re doing is unnatural.”
“That doesn’t mean you have the right to practically beat them to death,” Rodney told him, as he clamped down on Zevtsky’s shoulders, satisfied at the slight whimper his grip produced.
“You two are to be held in the brig until we get everything in order to send you back to Earth,” Elizabeth pronounced. “And, Rodney, I know you want justice, but if they don’t go straight to the brig and stay there – unharmed – until it’s time for them to leave, you’ll be going with them. John, I trust you’ll make sure he doesn’t earn himself an unnecessary ticket home.”
They both nodded as they hauled the offenders to their feet and marched them out of the office.
Once the men were in the brig, John pulled Rodney away and escorted him to the infirmary. “I think we have our work cut out for us,” John commented on the way. “I didn’t think that many people shared that view, and apparently just a memo won’t work. We’ll need to implement something larger – some sort of sensitivity training or something. Care to help me out?”
“Maybe,” Rodney replied, in a quandary now as to what to do. Evan and Chuck would be released within the next few days and after that he would have to make a decision. But that could wait. “Right now I just want to check on Lorne and Chuck and then get some sleep.”
Continue to Part 28
