Revised: Prisoners (2/2)

[amalthia]

The next time he woke he was in the infirmary in Atlantis. He recognized the ceiling. Elizabeth sat in a chair next to the bed reading on her laptop, a pen flicking against the touch pad in that way she did when she was nervous.

"Elizabeth," he said, surprised at how weak his voice came out. She glanced at him, and her face lit up.

She set aside the laptop, slapped her headset. "Carson, he's awake!"

She grabbed a cup of water sitting on the stand next to his bed, and gave it to him. His hands trembled but steadied under her watchful gaze, and he drank until the cup was empty.

She took the cup from his hand and set it down and helped him fluff his pillows so he could sit up more. He glanced down and was relieved to see even hospital clothing. His feet hurt like a sonofabitch, but that's a good sign right?

Carson entered the room out of breath. "So how's my patient?"

"We have to get to the Genii home world and rescue Rodney," John said firmly. "I need to save him."

"The Genii home world?" Elizabeth's mouth pressed together in displeasure. "John, we've visited the Genii. It's not snowing anywhere near their gate."

John couldn't say anything as it hit him. Kolya had lied. He clenched his fist and hit his thigh. "God dammit! I left him! He thinks we're going to come rescue him." On the heart monitor the beeping noise spiked.

"John, calm down." Carson patted him on the shoulder, before he reached over for a syringe. "I'm going to give you something to help you sleep. You've been through an ordeal."

Before John could voice his objection Carson had injected the drug into his IV.

*****

Two days later, John was back on his feet so to speak, though he was still using the wheelchair to get around Atlantis. He really had almost lost his feet and Carson said they needed more time to recover, but there was no way John was staying in the infirmary while he could be overseeing the search and rescue operation for Rodney.

They started searching for planets that were hip deep in snow near the gate; it narrowed the options down but none of the winter planets they'd found were the one he recognized.

John rolled the chair out to the balcony overlooking the Gate room. Carson didn't want him anywhere near the control tower but Elizabeth overruled him, he could love her for that alone. There was no way he'd get any rest until they found Rodney. He tried not to think of what Commander Halder might be doing to Rodney in retaliation, he could only pray it wouldn't break Rodney.

Three days later, and at his wit end, they had an off-world gate activation. Rodney's IDC signal came through. "Lower the shield," he ordered, grabbing his crutches and going out to the balcony just in time to see Kolya and Rodney come through the gate. Kolya had his arm around Rodney's waist, supporting him. Rodney was naked as the day he was born and freezing. "Get medical down here!" he yelled, and made his way down the stairs. Elizabeth rushed in from the side entrance.

"Rodney!" She stopped when she saw Kolya.

"I'm unarmed!" He shouted and carefully let Rodney slide to the ground before he raised his hands over his head. The marines quickly secured the prisoner. Medical arrived and put Rodney on the gurney, and wheeled him out of the room like the practiced professionals they were. Torn between following Rodney to the infirmary, or interrogating Kolya, John stuck with duty and ordered his men to take Kolya up to the conference room. He entered last.

Elizabeth and Major Lorne stayed standing. Kolya sat on a conference chair with his hands cuffed behind his back, but even in that benign position, a strong sense of revulsion and shame hit John when saw the brown uniform. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He'd told Carson after they had rescued Rodney he'd talk to Heightmeyer but he didn't think it would really help.

"What happened after I escaped?" John was surprised at how calm his voice came out.

Kolya stared at him, studying him, and John forced himself to meet that gaze. He would not let what happened to him turn him into a coward, he would get answers. Kolya nodded, "I was not there during your escape, however I did see the surveillance videos of the lab and your cell. The guards pulled Dr. McKay away from the console and questioned him with force. McKay programmed a sub-routine into the console that prevented my men from following after you. After they ascertained what had happened, they took him back to the cell."

"That does not explain the extent of Dr. McKay's injuries." Elizabeth said pointedly.

After a long pause Kolya said, "Commander Halder was not happy that he lost you on his shift. I was performing duties for my people off world. Not all the guards participated in the torture or gang rape. The ones who have been guarding you two from the beginning led a mutiny against Commander Halder, and with Wraith stunners rescued McKay from the cell and hid him until I returned two days later."

Elizabeth's face lost color and John refused to look at Major Lorne. "I watched the tapes of everything. Commander Halder did not follow my orders, took matters into his own hands, damaged the most valuable prisoners we had, and proved to be a liability. He's been stripped of rank."

"So you brought Dr. McKay back out of your own good will?" Major Lorne asked sarcastically.

"McKay was dying and he promised if I returned him home he'd tell me the purpose of the lab. Our medical facilities are nowhere near as advanced as Atlantis. My honor demanded that I come myself instead of one of my men."

This didn't quite explain why Rodney didn't have clothes or why Kolya looked out of breath when he came through the gate. John couldn't shake the feeling that Kolya had lied about something.

"So what planet were we held on?" John asked. "It obviously wasn't the Genii home world."

"You'll have to torture me for that information." Kolya said.

Elizabeth shook her head, "I don't think it's that important. Major, please see to it that Commander Kolya is escorted to one of our cells." She turned and left the room walking quickly.

John grabbed Lorne's arm, "No harm is to come to him," he ordered.

Lorne nodded, tapped his headset and ordered four of his men up to the conference room. John let Lorne handle the arrangements as he made his way to the nearest transporter.

*****

Rodney was in surgery for nine hours; it was touch and go there for a while, as the beating had caused some internal bleeding. Ronon and Teyla returned from a planet they were scouting and joined them as soon as the other doctors finished their post-mission screening.

They all sat in the waiting room. Elizabeth squeezed his hand every time she had to leave to take care of business elsewhere in the city.

Carson came out of surgery and told them to go back to their quarters. Rodney would survive.

Relief hit him hard and his eyes burned even as he smiled when Ronon picked Teyla up and swung her around. Elizabeth heard the news through the headset and she also told them to go get sleep. He was never the best at obeying orders and stretched out on the chairs. He must have fallen asleep though, because the next thing he knew Carson was telling him that the waiting room wasn't the Holiday Inn. Then he offered him coffee and a peek at Rodney.

John stood at the foot of Rodney's bed and stared. Rodney's body was covered by the blanket and he had tubes going everywhere, his face marked with a few new bruises. John lost track of time staring at Rodney, until a nurse arrived to check Rodney's vital stats. She smiled nervously after she filled out her chart. "Colonel, visiting hours are over..." He turned and left.

Two days later, Rodney was awake and not happy about it. He complained about everything, the food, the water, Carson's stupid hair, the bed, the ugly nurses, but when John came by to visit Rodney fell silent and listened while John talked about his day. He didn't mention their time in captivity or that he already had an appointment with Heightmeyer in three days, or that he'd never been so scared in his life when he couldn't find the planet.

Rodney knew about Kolya's lie even before he helped John escape, John still had trouble wrapping his head around it.

One step away from strangling the other man for not telling him, Rodney replied simply, "I knew you wouldn't leave me there if you knew the truth. You are thickheaded when it comes to these sorts of situations. So of course I lied. Besides, they wouldn't have killed me. My brain is more valuable than yours." Unable to say anything else John turned and walked away.

The next day he visited again and in the middle of telling Rodney about filling out stupid reports for cleaning equipment, Rodney grabbed his hand. "John, I want to talk to Kolya."

"What?" John sat on the edge of the bed. "He's the one responsible for this mess."

Rodney nodded. "He saved my life even though he didn't have to."

"What really happened?"

"Well they weren't happy." Rodney chuckled, "Not that I can blame them. You should have seen their expressions when you disappeared like that. They shook me a bit and I told them they couldn't follow after you, so they took me back to the cell. Commander Halder..." Rodney faltered and he gripped the sheet with his hand until his knuckled whitened.

John's throat dried up and he froze, remembering in his own experience. Rodney, seeing his reaction and no doubt remembering the same things, gave John an indecipherable look. John lowered his eyes first. Neither of them was ready to talk about the rapes just yet.

Licking his dry lips, Rodney slowly let go of the sheet. "Kaska saved my life. She organized the guards on her side and rescued me; the next few days are fuzzy. Kolya returned three days after your escape, I think it's safe to say he wasn't happy. You were gone. I was one step away from dead, and he'd seen the surveillance tapes. I guess it was rather obvious that Halder was only interested in the torturing, not the interrogation aspect of the job." Sweat beaded on Rodney's upper lip and he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Halder wasn't reprimanded and had replaced Kolya as head of the project. No one cared what Halder did to us. 'A necessary aspect of war' I heard more than once."

"That's bullshit! There is no excuse.."

Rodney gave him his 'No shit, Sherlock,' look.

John glared at Rodney, "I still have a hard time believing he helped you escape out of the goodness of his heart."

"Oh, he didn't. Originally, he planned to shoot me in the head." Rodney grabbed his cup of juice and drank. He stared at the empty cup on his lap for a moment before he tilted his head and stared at him. Half defiant, half confused, half daring John to ask for the rest of the story.

With Rodney sitting in front of him in mostly one piece, it was easy enough to restrain the urge to send a nuke to the Genii homeworld, "Well, why didn't he?" John ignored how his voice broke.

"I convinced him that if he helped me escape I'd give him detailed information about the lab."

Smart move, John thought.

"I didn't really think it would work, but it did." Rodney's voice wavered and his fingers trembled. He didn't have to say it, John knew how close Rodney had come to not coming back home at all.

John took the crumpled cup from Rodney, let it fall to the floor, and grasped his hand. "You did good, Rodney. What you did took a lot of courage and nerve." John just hoped his words helped.

"Thanks."

"Now about Kolya, Elizabeth wants him gone from Atlantis, but she doesn't want to give the order to kill another human," John said.

"She's a good woman." Rodney tilted his head back against his pillow and closed his eyes. "I'm tired." He sounded exhausted.

John got off the bed, but was stopped by the sound of Rodney’s voice. "John, I still want to speak to Kolya before he leaves. Please let Elizabeth know."

"I will."

*****

The next day Elizabeth gave the order to escort Kolya to the gate room and out of Atlantis. She approved Rodney's request to see Kolya. John joined the marines in escorting Kolya out of the cell and through the halls of Atlantis.

Rodney was awake and alert when Kolya entered the infirmary. His bed was adjusted so he could sit up more comfortably. "You wanted to see me?" Kolya asked, as he stood at the foot of the bed acting like he didn't care that two guards were holding guns on him.

John kept watch on Kolya too, feeling more self-assured, now that he was regaining more of his strength every day. He could already walk around without the crutches, and his back was probably not going to carry any scars, though he still had to be careful about bumping against anything hard.

"Yes, I wanted to tell you about the lab."

Kolya stood up straighter and his eyes focused sharply on Rodney.

"It's a music lab. Each console has a display screen with every instrument created programmed in, and it's for kids to learn music composition. The head console was the teacher's desk that monitored their progress. I think at one point there were headphones of some sort, and I know there are speakers of sorts in the walls. The ring was there because I think the lab was designed for the most musically gifted children on that planet and they needed an easy way to reach it from everywhere. The only useful thing in that lab is the ring device, which connects to thirty locations on the planet. I remote tested each and only two are down. I wrote instructions on how to use them here." Rodney handed the notepad to John. Without looking at the notepad, John passed it to Kolya.

"Music?’" Kolya said flatly, looking up from the notepad.

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Complex music can be translated into mathematical equations. I didn't exactly have time to fully research everything and you'll need someone with the gene to operate the consoles to their full extent. However the rings, once activated, should stay activated."

Kolya nodded. "Is that everything?"

"Yes, you can go now."

The two guards escorted Kolya from the room.

John stayed with Rodney. "Music? Huh. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"At the time it seemed like a good idea. If you didn't know anything they couldn't torture you for the information. It's good that I didn't mention anything, the bugs were audio and visual." Rodney avoided his eyes, but not before John saw a flicker of guilt.

"You saw the tapes?" John couldn't believe how dry his throat became.

A brief nod and a guilty glance in his direction answered John's question. "Not everything." Rodney tried to re-assure him. "I didn't even know what I was seeing at first because there were too many guards in the room and I was hurting at that point. I think it was there to keep the other guards on edge while waiting..."

"Rodney..." John's throat closed as his mind flashed back to the cell and guard's hands holding him down, the mattress pressed against one cheek, the taunts, the rage and helplessness when Commander Halder touched him.

He'd done his best for the last week to push all his memories aside, focusing only on rescuing Rodney, but it didn't stop there because Rodney almost died, Kolya had to be taken care of and now when he could finally give himself time to process what had happened, the emotions were too strong. John couldn't afford to break down, the Wraith, Caldwell, and the Genii, despite Kolya helping them this once, did not mean they were no longer a threat, he couldn't afford to let what had happened affect him or his job. Unlike Rodney, he was expendable. Caldwell would be more than happy to replace him as the military leader of Atlantis. Sheer force of will kept him rooted in place instead of hitting Rodney, the wall, himself.

Rodney sat there silently while he regained control, "John..." he grabbed John's hand. "Will you sit down?"

John sat on the edge of the bed facing away from Rodney, trying to calm down. Rodney gently petted his back, and with each downward stroke John found he could breathe more easily. "I'm sorry." He said, but he wasn't sure for what.

"I understand." And the real shitty part was Rodney really did understand this time. "If I had the energy I'd probably have a nervous breakdown too."

"I'm not having a nervous breakdown." He did not have nervous breakdowns, not matter what happened.

"If you say so," Rodney agreed too quickly.

John twisted around to face him. "You aren't going to have a nervous breakdown either, both of us are going to get better, and get out there and fight the good fight."

"John..."

It sounded like Rodney was going to disagree with him so he played his trump card, "I can't deal with this without you," John said vehemently. "You didn't give up on the planet and I won't let you give up now." His expression fiercely determined, he pushed on, grappling for something to say. "I- I won’t let you go back to Earth—"

Rodney held up his hand, "Stop. You had me at 'I can't deal with this without you.' Besides, I'm much too important to Atlantis and probably our best shot of winning this war against the Wraith. I won't leave." Rodney didn't add he was too proud to let the Genii scare him away.

Tension temporarily defused, John snorted, "I didn't think you watched sappy romances?"

"Stop trying to change the subject." Rodney said but was quick to add, "I only saw it once, on a date."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me." John tried to give Rodney his best 'I'm innocent' look. Only everything was off today and Rodney saw right through his attempt to deflect.

"John, I don't know how long..." Worry creased Rodney's brow.

"Take it easy. I'm willing to wait until we're both ready. Besides I don't think Elizabeth is going to let us go off-world without Heightmeyer's approval."

Rodney relaxed back into his pillows. "Yeah, you're right."

John reached for his crutches, "You look tired and Carson is going to give me hell if I don't let you rest."

Rodney grabbed his wrist, "Wait, there's something else I need to say."

John let his hand fall back.

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Kolya's lie, Elizabeth told me about how awful you felt when you realized. I feel kind of bad about that, but I'm not sorry that I stayed behind in order to let you escape. I don't regret that decision, not now and not when Halder and his goons fell upon me. So don't beat yourself up on my account."

John wanted to tell Rodney the truth, that'd he always feel responsible for what happened because it was his job to keep his team safe, not let them get captured, raped, or tortured.

"Apology accepted," Pasting on a smile, he lied, "I won't beat myself up."

Rodney frowned looking like he didn't quite believe him.

This time when John reached for the crutches Rodney didn't stop him.

-The End -