Title: Consequences
Author: Joolz
Feedback: [email protected]
Category: Episode Tag, Slash, Established
Relationship, Friendship
Pairing: Rodney/John
Rating: PG-13
Season/Spoilers: Season 2/ Spoilers for Trinity
Synopsis: He may be the only one, but
Ronon’s still speaking to Rodney.
Archive: StoryGate, Area 52, Wraithbait
Notes: Gratuitous Rodney/Ronon bonding. Thanks to Lady Ra for the beta.
Disclaimer: Not my lovely characters, just playing
with them.
Warnings: None
~~**~~
Ronon sat down across the
dining table from Rodney, a position usually held by Colonel Sheppard. Today, though, Ronan had a choice of
seats; across from, next to on either side, in fact any seat at the table. Sheppard was on the other side of the
room laughing with Lorne and several other Marines. Zelenka was conspicuous in his absence. Weir was at a small table, the book
propped up in front of her a signal to be left alone.
Rodney looked surprised at
Ronon’s sudden appearance and stared at him, uncharacteristically mute.
Ronon said, “So,
McKay, everybody’s mad at you, huh?”
The expressive face fell
into a scowl. “I actually
prefer the silent treatment to accusations, so if that’s what
you’re here for you can just go away.”
Ignoring that, Ronon
asked. “What’d you
do?”
“Surely you’ve
heard by now.”
“Couple of
versions. I’m asking
you.”
The scientist’s
shoulders slumped.
“Apparently my ego is so out of control that I recklessly
endangered half the expedition for no reason other than my own
self-aggrandizement.”
That puzzled Ronon
because, the ego? Sure. But McKay didn’t strike him as the
type to endanger much of anyone.
He said, “Bet there
was more to it. Tell me about
it.”
McKay was reluctant, but
once he got started his words and hands flew like Alcacion Raptors. Ronon listened attentively, nodding
gravely at each point. When Rodney
finished, he said, “So basically you were trying to get a really big
weapon to work.”
McKay glowered at the one
sentence summary.
“Simplistic, but basically accurate except for leaving out the
spectacular failure part. Now you
have the information you need to join the others in condemnation.”
Ronan smirked. “I’ll pass.”
“What?” Rodney looked startled and then his eyes
narrowed suspiciously.
“Why?”
Shrugging, Ronan answered,
“Not my place to judge.
Sounds like if it’d worked you would’ve been a big
hero. Doesn’t seem right to
blame you because it didn’t.”
Looking unsure, McKay
probed, “I did say some things to Radek that I really shouldn’t
have.”
“Why did you?”
McKay thought about
it. “Nobody’s asked me
that before. I guess I was so into
what was happening that he was a distraction. He was muddying the waters, making it
hard to think straight and things were moving too fast for that. I just wanted him to stop. I,” the man faltered, “what
I said was just wrong.”
Ronon nodded. “Yeah, probably. You apologize?”
“I did,
but…”
“Why’s he
surprised?” Ronon continued
dismissively, “You’re like that. Everybody knows it.”
McKay glowered,
“Great. And I pretty much
forced
“Yeah, you probably
tied her up and held a gun to her head.”
“Well, I didn’t,” McKay said with
some chagrin, “But Caldwell came close. He really wanted the weapon. It was kind of ugly how he threatened
her.”
“Sounds like
he’s partly to blame then. Is
he getting the silent treatment?”
“No, but then he
spends most of his time on the Deadalus.”
“Lucky him. ”
“I can’t
really criticize him. He did pretty
much save our lives there at the end.
And I did almost get Colonel Sheppard killed. He trusted me and I let him down. He has a right to be angry.”
Ronon grinned,
“Kicked you out of bed, did he?”
McKay’s eyes grew
comically wide and Ronon went on, enjoying the wealth of human emotion playing
across his companion’s face after being alone so long. “His loss. Don’t see how he could think
you’d do it on purpose. The
fact you were there yourself shows you thought it was safe.”
Now McKay’s head
bobbed urgently, “I did! I
did think it was safe. I really
thought it was going to work. I’d,”
his voice broke and his face showed sheer misery, “God, I’d rather
die than lose him.”
Ronon felt a sudden urge
to reach over and touch McKay, to offer comfort, but that wasn’t
something he could do physically.
He offered words instead.
“Don’t worry
about it. He’ll get over
it. They all will.”
Rodney looked at him
hopefully. “You think
so?”
“Oh, yeah. They need you. They’ll remember. The things that got you in trouble this
time are the same things they depend on to get them out of trouble the rest of
the time. You’ll get involved
in another project and Dr. Zelenka will be hanging on your every word. You probably scared Dr. Weir by almost
dying like that. She’ll calm
down and be asking for your advice next time something comes up. And Sheppard? He’ll be back. He knew who you were when he fell for
you. He’ll get the stick out
of his ass and you back in it soon enough.”
It was so fun to shock
McKay into choking silence. McKay
squeaked, “I don’t know about that.”
Ronon leaned forward
conspiratorially. “I do. He’s been watching us since I sat
down with a big scowl on his pretty face.
He won’t let you get away.
And if anyone keeps giving you shit, fuck them.”
Rodney’s face was
relaxing back into its accustomed smirk.
Then they watched Teyla stop with her tray when she saw them and turn
away. McKay’s expression fell
again.
“You may be
wrong. If Ms. Cool and Collected is
pissed off at me than it’s pretty bad.”
Ronon snorted. “She’s got more of a temper
than she likes to let on. And it
isn’t you she’s avoiding, it’s me.”
That got McKay’s
interest. “Really? Did you two cave dwellers have an
argument over how best to cook roast beast over a camp fire or
something?”
Ronon chuckled. McKay’s obvious and insincere
insults were so much easier to deal with than the nervous distance most people
kept with him.
“Uh, not
quite.” He cocked his head. “I guess since no one’s
talking to you I can tell you without it getting around. Teyla’s demonstrating her
disappointment in me for something I did on that last trading mission.”
Rodney’s eyebrows
jumped. “You screwed
up?”
“Well, I don’t think what I did was
wrong. But I did use her. I’m not surprised she’s
angry.”
The other man leaned
closer. “What did you
do? Come on, I told you my tale of
shame. You can tell me
yours.”
Ronan’s stomach
tightened. It wasn’t that he
was ashamed or even sorry, but it wasn’t exactly a happy memory, either.
“I killed someone
who needed killing.”
McKay’s mouth hung
open. “Oh.”
“We do what we have
to,” Ronon said philosophically, “and then we deal with the
consequences. You blew up an
uninhabited solar system. I killed
a man responsible for hundreds of deaths.
Which is worse? I
don’t think there’s any point in worrying about it too much.”
Rodney was blinking at
Ronon as though he’d never seen him before. After a moment the scientist sat back
and closed his mouth. Then he said,
“There are some boxes I need moved into a store room. I usually get the Colonel to help me,
but would you be willing to be a grunt for an hour or so?”
Ronon shrugged. “Got nothing better to do.”
They took their trays to
the clean-up area and then headed out of the mess hall side by side.
McKay looked up at him
hesitantly. “You know, a lot
of the stuff I say about you I don’t mean. Well, some of it I do, but not all of
it. You’re not entirely
brainless. I mean…. You know what I mean.”
“Yeah,” Ronon
smiled. “I know.”
End
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