Come for Me
Feb. 26th, 2012 04:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rinkacTitle: Come for Me
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters: Lorne, Cadman, Stackhouse, Parrish, Sheppard
Pairing: Lorne/Parrish
Orientation: Slash
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,602
Notes: For AC Bingo Fill: "To the Rescue"
It was supposed to be a simple, easy day for AG-2. A cakewalk, Major Lorne had thought; just take Doctor Hisho exploring in the lower levels of the city on a search for the crystal manufacturing lab that had been hinted about in the Ancient database. Both Evan and Sheppard had tried to locate the room using the Atlantis control chair, but the city was either being stubborn giving up the location, or it no longer knew where the lab was.
The city’s database seemed to be swiss cheese. Doctor McKay ranted on and on about it, but Evan felt that they were lucky to have anything from the Ancients. Atlantis was a grand old lady; they could hardly expect her to be as spry as she might have been in her heyday.
It was hard to remember that fact when he and his team were in danger because of their grand old lady’s disrepair.
“We aren’t getting out of this,” Evan whispered the words that had been going through his mind for the last fifteen minutes. He raised his head and saw his teammates, Stackhouse and Cadman, staring at him in the darkness.
Cadman’s eyes slid over to where the still form of Doctor Hisho was rapidly cooling by the bulkhead across the way. She knew. Evan could see it in her eyes, in the dim light of the emergency lanterns, she knew the truth; they were doomed.
“They’ll find us,” Stacks wasn’t ready to admit it yet.
“Not before the air runs out. Not before we freeze to death,” Laura said in a monotone. “This chamber is airtight, like a bank vault.”
Pressed into the corner behind the smoking ruins of the control panel Hisho had been working on, Evan wrapped his arms around his knees and shivered. This was ridiculous. “Guys, we should sit together.” Laura immediately crawled over, wrapped her arm around Evan’s shoulders and huddled close. After a minute, Stackhouse moved to sit beside Laura, and settled in to share body heat.
Evan knew it was hopeless. They were off the grid. They had traveled six levels lower than their original planned search route and had drifted several buildings off the search area. Their check-in wasn’t scheduled for another three hours. They would be out of air long before then; this compartment had no outside ventilation, Hisho had told them it was the Ancient equivalent of a clean room. With the power out in the entire section, the internal ventilation unit wouldn’t work, even if it were not currently a smoking husk. Most of the equipment in the room had blown with the power overload Hisho had inadvertently initiated.
“Doctor Hisho might be the lucky one,” Stackhouse mumbled.
“He’s dead,” Laura replied.
Stacks shrugged. “He’s not feeling the cold. He’s not choking on the fumes from the burning junk,” the sergeant coughed. He had been closest to the ventilation unit when it blew and had inhaled some smoke and chemicals before Cadman knocked him away from it.
They sat in silence for a while before Evan took a deep shuddering breath and said, “I’m worried about David, how they’ll break the news to him.”
“I’m sure Colonel Sheppard will be kind about it, even if he doesn’t know about you two,” Laura said. Their team knew though they were the only ones who did. And David would just be told that his team was not coming back. He would have no one to turn to, no one that understood his grief, that understood he’d lost his partner when his team leader died.
“I should’ve left a note, should have made him an emergency contact. We should have told someone else, maybe Beckett. Someone should break it to him gently.”
Stackhouse was staring at him. His voice was raspy as he said, “At least he didn’t come today; his obsession with the new sapling project saved his ass.”
Miserable and thinking about David, Evan leaned into the hug Laura gave him. He slid his hand up to grasp hers where it rested on his upper arm and intertwined their fingers. “I should have told someone.” He bowed his head and closed his eyes.
“Don’t go to sleep, sir!” Laura’s voice snapped Evan awake, jolting him upright.
“I’m not.”
She bumped her forehead to his. “Liar.”
“So cold,” Stackhouse chattered. He was literally wrapped around Cadman.
“It’s your turn, sing something, sir,” Laura whispered. They had started taking turns occasionally singing or chanting or speaking the lyrics to songs in order to stay awake, knowing if they went to sleep, they would likely never wake again. Evan started to laugh.
Stacks looked around Laura and asked Evan, “What’s funny?”
“What if the last words I say or think about are the lyrics to Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves?”
“Thanks, sir, now you’ve potentially got my last thoughts wondering if you’re into the drag scene, and how you’d look in a Cher wig,” Laura poked his ribs through his tac vest and chuckled.
“I don’t have the legs. And since we’re dying and all, you guys can call me Evan.”
As it turned out, the last thing he thought about before he slipped into what promised to be forever sleep was David.
~*~
“Evan. Evan Lorne, wake up.” Someone was roughly shaking his shoulder.
“Go way.”
“Uh-uh, baby, not until you open your eyes. I have coffee, real coffee.”
He smelled it as it was passed under his nose. He sniffed, inhaling the lovely, bracing odor. He opened his eyes to see anxious eyes peering into his. “David?” he whispered in confusion. “How?”
“Your botanist here came looking for me, claiming something was wrong.” Sheppard was crouched behind David, holding up an emergency lantern. He reached around to slap Evan’s shoulder with his free hand. “He wouldn’t leave me alone until I checked into it.”
David pressed the thermos into his hands and held it steady as Evan raised it to his lips and sipped at it. It was just how he liked it too, light and sweet with a little vanilla.
“The team?” Evan asked. The room was lit only by handheld lanterns, but it was much brighter than it had been when they had only Evan and Stackhouse’s battery operated lights. He turned his head, and saw that Stackhouse being treated by a medic; he had an oxygen mask over his face and was breathing deeply. Cadman was sitting up, wrapped in a blanket, talking to Teyla.
“Stackhouse has a bit of smoke inhalation. Cadman is chilled, maybe some mild hypothermia, but you should all be okay,” Sheppard replied.
“Here, I’ve got a wool blanket for you.” Evan leaned forward and David wrapped the blanket around him, as well as his arms, holding Evan tightly. David had his forehead pressed to the top of Evan’s head and the botanist was trembling. He slumped into David before realizing that Sheppard was still there. His eyes met Sheppard’s over David’s shoulder.
His CO held the look and then nodded. “Don’t worry about it,” Sheppard said before patting Evan’s shoulder again and leaving to go over to Stackhouse. The medical team was helping the sergeant to climb up onto a gurney that had been wheeled in.
Evan took another gulp of the coffee, relishing the warmth as it slid down his throat. He looked at his watch. His teeth were clattering together as he said, “How did you know? There’s still over an hour until our check in.”
Suddenly remembering that they had witnesses, David leaned back and rubbed Evan’s shoulders and arms. “The city told me.”
“The city told you? How?” Parrish only had a minor expression of the ATA gene; he’d never displayed any connection to the city before this.
“I was working in the greenhouse and I went to enter the floor plan of where I’d planted the saplings into the database. As soon as I touched my palm to it, a map came up and started flashing at me. I thought it was a mistake, but then I realized it was the buildings you guys were going to go exploring. I was also getting this vibe, this really bad feeling that something was seriously wrong.”
As he was speaking, David had reached out to take Evan’s hand and was squeezing it tightly. Most of the people in the room were busy moving Stackhouse out and getting Cadman up onto a second gurney. “I couldn’t get it to tell me any more so I went to Colonel Sheppard. He used the chair interface and found that this whole section had gone completely dark.”
“He came looking himself?” Evan glanced over at Sheppard now kneeling beside Doctor Hisho.
“When I told him I was going alone, he offered. He was really nice about it all, a lot nicer than he had to be. I think he knows about us, Evan.”
The medics were done with Cadman and now turned their attention towards Evan. “Yeah, I think so too, but I think it will be okay.”
He had not realized how exhausted he was until the medics made him move out of the corner where he had been wedged for hours. He winced as his muscles protested at the movement. David was hovering as he stood on very shaky legs, and Evan heard his gasp as he collapsed. The medics caught him and lifted him onto the gurney. His eyes were heavy, he couldn’t keep them open.
David had found them. Somehow Atlantis had known to tell David. As he gave up the fight and closed his eyes, he wondered how.
The end
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters: Lorne, Cadman, Stackhouse, Parrish, Sheppard
Pairing: Lorne/Parrish
Orientation: Slash
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,602
Notes: For AC Bingo Fill: "To the Rescue"
It was supposed to be a simple, easy day for AG-2. A cakewalk, Major Lorne had thought; just take Doctor Hisho exploring in the lower levels of the city on a search for the crystal manufacturing lab that had been hinted about in the Ancient database. Both Evan and Sheppard had tried to locate the room using the Atlantis control chair, but the city was either being stubborn giving up the location, or it no longer knew where the lab was.
The city’s database seemed to be swiss cheese. Doctor McKay ranted on and on about it, but Evan felt that they were lucky to have anything from the Ancients. Atlantis was a grand old lady; they could hardly expect her to be as spry as she might have been in her heyday.
It was hard to remember that fact when he and his team were in danger because of their grand old lady’s disrepair.
“We aren’t getting out of this,” Evan whispered the words that had been going through his mind for the last fifteen minutes. He raised his head and saw his teammates, Stackhouse and Cadman, staring at him in the darkness.
Cadman’s eyes slid over to where the still form of Doctor Hisho was rapidly cooling by the bulkhead across the way. She knew. Evan could see it in her eyes, in the dim light of the emergency lanterns, she knew the truth; they were doomed.
“They’ll find us,” Stacks wasn’t ready to admit it yet.
“Not before the air runs out. Not before we freeze to death,” Laura said in a monotone. “This chamber is airtight, like a bank vault.”
Pressed into the corner behind the smoking ruins of the control panel Hisho had been working on, Evan wrapped his arms around his knees and shivered. This was ridiculous. “Guys, we should sit together.” Laura immediately crawled over, wrapped her arm around Evan’s shoulders and huddled close. After a minute, Stackhouse moved to sit beside Laura, and settled in to share body heat.
Evan knew it was hopeless. They were off the grid. They had traveled six levels lower than their original planned search route and had drifted several buildings off the search area. Their check-in wasn’t scheduled for another three hours. They would be out of air long before then; this compartment had no outside ventilation, Hisho had told them it was the Ancient equivalent of a clean room. With the power out in the entire section, the internal ventilation unit wouldn’t work, even if it were not currently a smoking husk. Most of the equipment in the room had blown with the power overload Hisho had inadvertently initiated.
“Doctor Hisho might be the lucky one,” Stackhouse mumbled.
“He’s dead,” Laura replied.
Stacks shrugged. “He’s not feeling the cold. He’s not choking on the fumes from the burning junk,” the sergeant coughed. He had been closest to the ventilation unit when it blew and had inhaled some smoke and chemicals before Cadman knocked him away from it.
They sat in silence for a while before Evan took a deep shuddering breath and said, “I’m worried about David, how they’ll break the news to him.”
“I’m sure Colonel Sheppard will be kind about it, even if he doesn’t know about you two,” Laura said. Their team knew though they were the only ones who did. And David would just be told that his team was not coming back. He would have no one to turn to, no one that understood his grief, that understood he’d lost his partner when his team leader died.
“I should’ve left a note, should have made him an emergency contact. We should have told someone else, maybe Beckett. Someone should break it to him gently.”
Stackhouse was staring at him. His voice was raspy as he said, “At least he didn’t come today; his obsession with the new sapling project saved his ass.”
Miserable and thinking about David, Evan leaned into the hug Laura gave him. He slid his hand up to grasp hers where it rested on his upper arm and intertwined their fingers. “I should have told someone.” He bowed his head and closed his eyes.
“Don’t go to sleep, sir!” Laura’s voice snapped Evan awake, jolting him upright.
“I’m not.”
She bumped her forehead to his. “Liar.”
“So cold,” Stackhouse chattered. He was literally wrapped around Cadman.
“It’s your turn, sing something, sir,” Laura whispered. They had started taking turns occasionally singing or chanting or speaking the lyrics to songs in order to stay awake, knowing if they went to sleep, they would likely never wake again. Evan started to laugh.
Stacks looked around Laura and asked Evan, “What’s funny?”
“What if the last words I say or think about are the lyrics to Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves?”
“Thanks, sir, now you’ve potentially got my last thoughts wondering if you’re into the drag scene, and how you’d look in a Cher wig,” Laura poked his ribs through his tac vest and chuckled.
“I don’t have the legs. And since we’re dying and all, you guys can call me Evan.”
As it turned out, the last thing he thought about before he slipped into what promised to be forever sleep was David.
“Evan. Evan Lorne, wake up.” Someone was roughly shaking his shoulder.
“Go way.”
“Uh-uh, baby, not until you open your eyes. I have coffee, real coffee.”
He smelled it as it was passed under his nose. He sniffed, inhaling the lovely, bracing odor. He opened his eyes to see anxious eyes peering into his. “David?” he whispered in confusion. “How?”
“Your botanist here came looking for me, claiming something was wrong.” Sheppard was crouched behind David, holding up an emergency lantern. He reached around to slap Evan’s shoulder with his free hand. “He wouldn’t leave me alone until I checked into it.”
David pressed the thermos into his hands and held it steady as Evan raised it to his lips and sipped at it. It was just how he liked it too, light and sweet with a little vanilla.
“The team?” Evan asked. The room was lit only by handheld lanterns, but it was much brighter than it had been when they had only Evan and Stackhouse’s battery operated lights. He turned his head, and saw that Stackhouse being treated by a medic; he had an oxygen mask over his face and was breathing deeply. Cadman was sitting up, wrapped in a blanket, talking to Teyla.
“Stackhouse has a bit of smoke inhalation. Cadman is chilled, maybe some mild hypothermia, but you should all be okay,” Sheppard replied.
“Here, I’ve got a wool blanket for you.” Evan leaned forward and David wrapped the blanket around him, as well as his arms, holding Evan tightly. David had his forehead pressed to the top of Evan’s head and the botanist was trembling. He slumped into David before realizing that Sheppard was still there. His eyes met Sheppard’s over David’s shoulder.
His CO held the look and then nodded. “Don’t worry about it,” Sheppard said before patting Evan’s shoulder again and leaving to go over to Stackhouse. The medical team was helping the sergeant to climb up onto a gurney that had been wheeled in.
Evan took another gulp of the coffee, relishing the warmth as it slid down his throat. He looked at his watch. His teeth were clattering together as he said, “How did you know? There’s still over an hour until our check in.”
Suddenly remembering that they had witnesses, David leaned back and rubbed Evan’s shoulders and arms. “The city told me.”
“The city told you? How?” Parrish only had a minor expression of the ATA gene; he’d never displayed any connection to the city before this.
“I was working in the greenhouse and I went to enter the floor plan of where I’d planted the saplings into the database. As soon as I touched my palm to it, a map came up and started flashing at me. I thought it was a mistake, but then I realized it was the buildings you guys were going to go exploring. I was also getting this vibe, this really bad feeling that something was seriously wrong.”
As he was speaking, David had reached out to take Evan’s hand and was squeezing it tightly. Most of the people in the room were busy moving Stackhouse out and getting Cadman up onto a second gurney. “I couldn’t get it to tell me any more so I went to Colonel Sheppard. He used the chair interface and found that this whole section had gone completely dark.”
“He came looking himself?” Evan glanced over at Sheppard now kneeling beside Doctor Hisho.
“When I told him I was going alone, he offered. He was really nice about it all, a lot nicer than he had to be. I think he knows about us, Evan.”
The medics were done with Cadman and now turned their attention towards Evan. “Yeah, I think so too, but I think it will be okay.”
He had not realized how exhausted he was until the medics made him move out of the corner where he had been wedged for hours. He winced as his muscles protested at the movement. David was hovering as he stood on very shaky legs, and Evan heard his gasp as he collapsed. The medics caught him and lifted him onto the gurney. His eyes were heavy, he couldn’t keep them open.
David had found them. Somehow Atlantis had known to tell David. As he gave up the fight and closed his eyes, he wondered how.
The end