FIC: Six Reunions, by Helen W. (wneleh) (The Lost Tribe)

[wneleh.livejournal.com]

Title: Six Reunions
Author: Helen W. (wneleh)
Episode: The Lost Tribe (5x11)
Rating: PG for language
Category: gen; um, maybe more gennish. My first modern fandom was The Sentinel, okay?
Major Characters: Rodney, Ronon, John, Teyla
Wordcount: ~3,100
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc. etc.
Summary: The reunions we didn't get to see near the end of The Lost Tribe

Written for the S5 fic-an-episode challenge. All feedback welcome!

Near the end of The Lost Tribe

I. Rodney and Ronon

Richard Woolsey was still softly giggling over his 'can opener' joke when Rodney managed to twist his wrist and get his gloved index finger into the slot where the Asgard suit's external controls were located. He flipped the 'open' toggle, and the suit melted off of him, leaving him suddenly chilled, but, God, free of the damn thing.

He looked over toward where Jennifer and some people he didn't recognize - presumably Daedalus medical staff, but how the hell should he know? - were fussing around Daniel Jackson where he lay on the bed closest to the exterior door. Still in his suit, of course.

Jennifer looked up and said, "Rodney? How do we…"

"Yes, of course," he said, moving quickly to free his fellow captive. Ex-captive. Daniel was conscious, but seemed largely unresponsive. If he'd broken Daniel Jackson, Sam was going to kill him. "What the hell happened? How did you find us?"

"Tell you later," said Jennifer. "Um, we're going to be pretty busy in here…"

"Well, then I'll just…" Rodney looked around for Woolsey to see if he would be doing Jennifer a favor if he encouraged the other man to leave also, but Woolsey was talking softly to a man in a bed in the far corner of the sickbay. Steven Caldwell, head bandaged, skin almost as white as his sheets. Rodney presumed that he'd learn quite a bit if he joined them, but Col. Caldwell was just a bit more than he was prepared to deal with just then.

"Right," he said, "Catch you later."

And walked out the swinging doors and straight into Ronon Dex.

"Mmph," he said as Ronon's arms closed around his shoulders, then, "Lumph gumph."

Ronon loosed his arms, but kept his hands on Rodney's shoulders. "Does Sheppard know we got you?"

Rodney nodded. "Woolsey gave him a call, we took out the installation, and, well, here I am."

Ronon looked at him narrowly - yes, that was definitely narrowly, which was an interesting look on Ronon. "I didn't feel us fire. I thought we were a long way from getting weapons on-line."

"Well, Sheppard must have figured something out."

"Sheppard fired?"

"Didn't I say that?"

"Then it wasn't us."

"We have another ship? John's got his own ship?" The hall was starting to twist oddly.

"Let's get you down somewhere," said Ronon, his arm now around Rodney's shoulders.

"Yes, down," said Rodney, "Someplace close."

Ten paces, and they were the mess, which, actually, he should have known was close, having spent a number of weeks on the Daedalus. Being beamed did a number on ones bearings, though!

He sank onto the closest bench and put his elbows on the table, the better to keep his head from dropping off.

"Coffee?" Ronon, still standing, asked.

"Yes! No! I need sugar. Is there any fruit juice?"

Ronon plopped a juice box in front of him, straw already deployed, and set more boxes behind it. "Little bits of juice, lots of packaging," he said, "Just the way you Earth people like it."

"Well, it travels well like this," said Rodney, downing the first box - Very Berry - in three straw-pulls. Ronon handed him the second, then snatched it back after Rodney's third miss at the straw hole. Damn his shaking hands; but the sugar would kick in in a minute.

Ronon got the straw in and handed the box back, then prepped a third. "Feeling better?"

"Much," said Rodney. "So, um, the stargates… I got into Janus's logs, and unless I've forgotten all the ancient I've ever known, they may have been exploding upon activation while the attero device was going…"

"Yeah, that's what happened," said Ronon. "Lost the Atlantis gate, lost a gate on a world that Larrin's people've been settling on - took out the whole settlement. We haven't checked anywhere else."

"Shit. How many did we lose on Atlantis?"

"Nobody," said Ronon. "Don't know how they pulled that one off. That Zelenka is quite a guy."

God, Ronon was teasing him, so it couldn't be that bad. Or maybe he just really looked like he needed it.

"How many dead, of Larrin's people?" he had to ask.

"I heard 3,000," said Ronon.

"We were just exploring the city!" said Rodney. "How often has doing that bit us in the ass?"

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I kinda screwed up too," said Ronon. "Our mission with the Wraith went bad pretty quickly…"

"I wonder why."

"Yeah, not a surprise," said Ronon. "So, it's just Jennifer and me not in the brig. And even you know what to do in that sort of circumstance."

"Evade capture, fight how you can?"

"Yeah, evasion, sabotage, rescue. 'Cept, well, I'm really good at sabotage."

"You took out too much."

"Todd put us on a collision course with the installation down there because we had no weapons, and I still don't know how we got out of it."

"You think he would have let everyone out of the brig otherwise?"

Ronon shrugged. "I'm just saying, lousy day all around."

"Yeah," said Rodney. The sugar was starting to work; he felt less like screaming or bursting into tears, and his hands were steady enough that he was able to get the straw in the next juice box on the first try.

"Hey," said Ronon, reaching across the table to rap Rodney's knuckles with his own. "Coulda been a whole lot worse."

II. John and Teyla

The small craft flew a wide arc around Atlantis, then slowed and approached the pier.

The marines around Teyla were practically vibrating with excitement - apparently any space ship was 'awesome' or 'radical', but to her only-slightly-more practiced eye this one looked more asymmetrically piecemeal than most. But it landed right side up and without exploding, which was, in the end, all Teyla asked of such things.

John Sheppard was the first person to exit the craft, followed closely by an attractive woman who was either Katana Labrea or her twin and several older men.

"Teyla!" John almost trotted over to her, and she raised her hands so that he would know to grasp them; their head-touch was brief, but, she hoped, conveyed her pleasure at his homecoming.

John released her hands and introduced his companions. As she'd surmised, the woman was the same individual who had contacted them, and her compatriots were the small craft's pilot and engineer. Here to spy, Teyla supposed.

John spoke quickly with the leader of the marine contingent, nodded to Katana, then said, "Walk with me."

As soon as they were a small distance from the Travelers, John said, "Update me. What's been happening?"

"The city's automatics systems have been conducting preliminary repairs to the tower, with some input from our engineers," she answered. "Beyond that, things have been quiet."

"Well, glad someone had an easy day."

"We were quite relieved to learn that Rodney and Dr. Jackson had been recovered and that the gate destruction has stopped."

"Yeah," said John, then, "It's going to be hard figuring out what gates have been destroyed. I've, uh, been thinking of all the people out there…"

"Dr. Zelenka has been running simulations," she said. "If his calculations are correct, an uncontained explosion would cause significant destruction within a kilometer of the stargate, but would be largely blocked by a geographical feature such as a ridge.

"It is the custom of my people, and of many others, to not settle very close to a ring of the ancestors, and to place topography between stargates and any large population concentrations."

John nodded. "To make culling more difficult."

"Yes," she said, "but also… there is an understanding that a gift as wonderful as the ring system cannot be without price."

"You know, that answers a lot of questions," said John. "About why we're always hiking into town."

"It's also why a guard is seldom posted. To force an individual to spend so much of their lives so close… it is immoral."

"But you never seemed to mind our gate in the tower."

"Surely you have noticed, John, that I am not a superstitious person."

"And Larrin's people, they don't have the same cultural background as most of the rest of the galaxy," said John. "So they probably made the stargate the center of their village square."

"Yes, perhaps," said Teyla.

They entered the building which housed most of the city's currently-occupied living space; the transition gave Teyla a chance to consider her next words. Finally, she said, "John, whatever our next step is - whether we assist in transplanting unused gates, or in other ways - I ask that it be done in concert with the people affected."

"Well, we're not going to give a gate to people who don't want one!"

Teyla shook her head, slightly frustrated. How could she phrase this? "We - and I include myself in this - have once again taken an action in good faith that has had serious negative consequences for people completely uninvolved. We must learn how to prevent this from happening. And if this is impossible - we must determine how to give the affected a voice."

John gave no reply.

They entered the transporter and John said, "Sheppard. Quarters," then, after the doors had closed, "Well, if you don't need me, I'm going to turn in for a bit."

"We can continue to function without your active involvement, probably until Mr. Woolsey's return," she said.

The transporter's doors opened and John, with a wave, was gone.

III. John and Ronon

Like he'd requested, Amelia Banks paged him when the Daedalus made orbit. John threw on the first clean clothes he could find and headed for the auxiliary control room.

The first group to beam down included Richard Woolsey and Jennifer Keller, both looking like they needed a hot shower and a good night's sleep. He exchanged pleasantries and accepted compliments on his piloting, then noticed Katana and her marine guard were also present so introduced her to Woolsey.

Katana took Woolsey's hand and made unfathomable noises of delight. It was deeply weird.

A moment later the next group shimmered into the room. Some of the marines, and Ronon Dex.

Ronon spotted him immediately. "Sheppard! Great shot! Good going with the wormhole, too."

"Yeah, thanks, wasn't original though," he replied. "Um, is Rodney going to be beaming down any time soon?"

Ronon laughed. "Once the crew realized they had the 'Great Rodney McKay' onboard they descended like a pack of glafoni and practically carried him away. Last I saw him, all I could see were his feet sticking out from under some machinery. He was yelling at everyone else in the room; probably never been happier."

For an instant, John considered beaming up to the Daedalus - maybe give McKay a hand with whatever he was doing, or give the crew a hand with McKay. But, really, that made no sense. And, anyway, being Rodney-free for a little while meant that he could… "Hey, my back got pretty cut-up when our gate went. I'm kinda afraid I might get a few more scars."

"You're such an amateur, Sheppard, don't even try."

"No, take a look!"

"Yeah, all right."

They headed toward the relative privacy of the nearest lounge, and John locked the door behind them. Then he lifted his t-shirt - ow! He probably shouldn't be stretching like this - and turned his back toward Ronon.

"Impressive," Ronon said. "But I think they'll heal fine."

"No, anything that stings like they do's going to leave a mark."

"Sheppard, honestly, you want them to scar? People say I'm sick."

That was - pretty direct, even for Ronon. "It's just… there should be something permanent, when things go to hell so badly," he tried to explain. "Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, I think it does," said Ronon.

IV. Rodney and Teyla

"Scanner! I need the Hunnel scanner!"

Nothing.

Rodney inched out from under the weapons control cylinder and looked around the ballistics bay. The very empty ballistics bay.

He activated his comm unit. "Marks! Patterson! Where the hell are you?"

An unfamiliar voice responded, "Lt. Marks has been off-duty for a half-hour, and Hilary Patterson's beamed down to Atlantis."

"What? We made orbit? Why didn't anyone…"

"Marks'd been on duty since Wednesday."

He switched off the comm. unit. Should he try to finish up, or… No, really, what he wanted to do was go home. Now.

He swang past the infirmary to check on Daniel but he, too, had apparently been gone for several hours, as had Jennifer. Even Richard Woolsey would have been a welcome sight, but, no.

The bridge was full of strangers, but they at least seemed to know which end of the transporter was which.

Did that even make sense, he wondered? Sure, you beamed up and down, but it wasn't like a hammer, or a scanner for that matter…

Then he was in Atlantis's auxiliary control room. Home. "Um, hi," he said, looking around. "Miss me?"

"Yes, Rodney, we were very worried," said Teyla, emerging from behind a workstation to come and take his hands. Wow, a head touch; he didn’t often merit those.

"They were really more mass-murdery than homicidal," said Rodney. "We were okay."

"Dr. Jackson didn't look 'okay'."

"Is Daniel…"

"He's stable," said Teyla. "Have you eaten? Have you rested?"

"Yeah, if you don't eat on the Daedalus they send a marine to frog-march you to the mess. And I got a decent nap in. And, Teyla, you sound so much like a mother you're screwing with my perceptions big-time because, where I come from, mothers don't hit things with sticks."

"I suspect they would if they had to," said Teyla.

"Speaking of… how's Torren? And Kanaan?"

"They are well."

"Well, then, all's well that…" he started, then realized, well, no. "You know, I could use a bite. Are you needed here?"

"No, and I'd be delighted to share a meal, Dr. McKay."

V. John and Rodney

On the way, they rounded a corner and there was John.

For an instant, Rodney couldn't think of a thing to say.

Teyla squeezed his arm and said, "I'll see you later," then he and John were alone in the corridor.

"Well, I was going to get some food…" he started.

"I've got microwave mac and cheese in my quarters," John said, using his thumb to gesture in a direction that Rodney was almost certain was nowhere near correct.

"Sounds like heaven."

They entered a transporter, and, as the doors closed, John pulled him close for a quick embrace, then stepped back equally as quickly.

"It wasn't too bad," Rodney said. "I mean, as captivities go."

"It was awfully close there at the end."

"Yeah, but I didn't realize that until it was long over."

Once in his quarters, John pulled out a bag of Doritos and a jar from his salsa stash. "This okay?"

Rodney nodded. "So… how ya been?"

"Oh, you missed it! Got a back full of glass when the gate exploded. And I got to pilot a Traveler ship."

"Are you okay? Your back?"

"It's fine."

Rodney opened the bag and the salsa jar and started munching. "I'd urf da weh Twavalla."

"Larrin couldn't make it, but her liaison says she talks about me all the time."

"Whufff? Laffin da saddis?"

He took a drag from the beer John had placed in front of him and tried again. "Larrin the sadist?"

"You make that sound like a bad thing," said John, but Rodney realized he hadn't perhaps used the most sensitive of terminologies.

"She hurt you and she enjoyed it," he said. "Sheppard, that cannot be what you want."

"Yeah, well, what about you chasing the prom queen?"

"Dr. Keller is a highly skilled medical doctor, brave, and smart, and…"

"And enough different from you that your kids won't get too many recessives."

"Well excuse me for wanting to date someone who doesn't get off on torturing me!"

He stood, pounded his beer onto John's coffee table, and had almost made it to the door when John's "Rodney!" made his legs stop moving.

"We should stop this conversation," he said.

"Agreed," said John, "But not like this, okay? Not when it might all go to hell tomorrow."

Rodney returned to the couch and sank down, suddenly very tired. "You do like Jennifer, though, as a person, right?"

"Yes, I like Jennifer," said John. "I respect Dr. Keller. Just - no, I'm stopping now."

"So…"

"So let's watch Doctor Who," said John. "What episode are we up to?"

VI. Ronon and Teyla

Teyla was returning from peeking at the duty roster to see if any ATA-gene-carrying pilots were available for conveying her to her people's settlement (the answer - no, not until tomorrow) when she spied Ronon sitting under an awning. Whittling?

"May I join you?" she asked, then sank down beside her friend. "What are you making?"

"Don't know yet," he said.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, then Ronon said, "Have you seen Sheppard? It was hilarious - he couldn't wait to show me his back. I told him it probably wouldn't scar. He was crushed."

"Crushed?"

"Disappointed, at least."

"He really wants your respect," said Teyla.

"Note to Col. Sheppard - what I respect is the ability to win a fight and not get stabbed or shot at."

"Really?"

"Well, not often." He paused. "Is John still trailing that Traveler woman around?"

"Katana Labrea? She seemed - competent. Pleasant."

"I think he's still got a thing for Larrin."

"I fear you might be right."

Ronon turned his stick and started shaving a new area. "We're not teenagers. Why does it feel like we are sometimes?"

"What do you mean?"

"Jennifer Keller dropped me. For Rodney, I'm pretty sure."

That was - unexpected. "I didn't know you were truly courting her."

"Neither did I. But she wanted to make it clear."

"Lovely." She paused. "But… perhaps you could regard it as a compliment? She sees you as enough as a peer that she…" Can treat you cruelly, can risk leaving a scar, she didn't end.

Ancestors, how could the first person to draw the attention of this good, kind man, not meld herself to his needs?

"I think she doesn't like being bossed around. We didn't get on too great on the Daedalus."

Teyla had to laugh, then, because that was her answer. "And yet she is, you say, interested in Rodney. Our Rodney."

"Yeah, that'll end well."

"I, for one, wish them every happiness."

"Yeah, sure," said Ronon. "Hey, want to go get dinner?"

"I never did get to the cafeteria for lunch," said Teyla.

Ronon stood and offered his arm, Earth-movie-style. Teyla slid her arm through his, and they headed inside together.

* * * THE END * * *

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