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sga_flashficTitle: Going Solo
Author: Salsatiable
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Main Characters: Rodney McKay, Laura Cadman
Rating: PG
Summary: "Rodney had, foolishly perhaps, expected things to go back to normal after being released from the infirmary.”
Spoilers: Takes place straight after Duet, also contains hefty spoilers for Critical Mass and Grace Under Pressure.
Word Count: 4583. I know I know, I went over the limit, I’m really sorry. What was, in my head, a nice little ficlet kind of got out of hand.
Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate Atlantis or any of it’s characters. I write merely for the love of it. Also, part of the dialogue is taken directly from The Stargate: Atlantis episode Critical Mass.
A/N: Written for the ‘Secret Superpower’ challenge on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
sga_flashfic
My thanks, as always, to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ferret_kitty for being a great beta and encouraging me, and for never remembering the attachments, proving that no-one is perfect.
Rodney had, foolishly perhaps, expected things to go back to normal after being released from the infirmary. But, seriously, what could be considered normal when you were living in the Pegasus Galaxy? It turned out that the bliss of being alone in his body was destined to be pretty short-lived.
It lasted, in fact, until he went to bed that first night. Lying there, in his boxers and favourite t-shirt, he felt strangely alone. There was no sniping, no snarking, no arguing, and no competition for control. Somehow, though in no doubt irritating, it had all been bizarrely soothing. Now there was just the silence of his own thoughts, and a body that responded merely to him.
It seemed peculiar to Rodney that he actually missed the invasion of having Cadman inside his head. He even felt a stab of sadness when, on going to the bathroom and looking up at the ceiling, he realised that he no longer needed to do so. There was no one in his head to spy on him.
The next few days were long and dull; he didn’t see Cadman, why would he? But he found himself thinking of her, almost constantly, almost obsessively. He even considered taking himself for a run at night, maybe he’d bump into her, but he abandoned that plan; too high an effort for an uncertain reward. He realised it had all gone too far when he decided to do without the boxers and T-shirt, to follow her lead and sleep ‘in the buff’
He found himself wondering if she missed him the way he missed her. ‘No of course she doesn’t, she has the excitement of being back in her own body to keep her busy.’ Unfortunately that led him to thoughts of Cadman’s body, and that road led him nowhere good. Namely to him wondering if she were at that moment in bed naked just as he was. ‘Now doesn’t that just create a need for a cold shower. Pathetic pathetic pathetic,’ he chastised himself, turning over and over, the sense of loneliness almost overwhelming.
***************************************************
The first time it happened, he was in the mess hall. Standing at the front of the queue with Sheppard; and ok, so he was taking his time over choosing his food, but hello, the wrong choice could result in death, who else in the line could say that?! There was also the added distraction of not having an internal argument over what he should be digesting, and really, he shouldn’t be missing that!
“Come on Rodney, there’s other people hungry you know.”
Finally hearing the chirpy voice was like a delightful release, it brought a completely involuntary smile to his face. However, for the look of the thing, he turned around to admonish Cadman (he had a reputation to uphold after all), but was shocked to find that she was at the end of the queue, a good twenty people away from him. He’d been convinced she’d been stood right next to him. He shook his head, momentarily confused, then turned back to the food.
“You ok?” Sheppard asked, looking concerned, which was gratifying, or maybe worrying, he wasn’t sure which just yet.
“Yes, yes, I’m fine.” Rodney replied, waving off the question, as he headed to their usual table and plonked himself down. Telling himself as he did so that his ridiculous obsession with Cadman had to stop. ‘She isn’t that special. Yes ok, she’s blonde, and pretty, and nice to you, despite, well, despite you, but let’s face it, she’s no Sam Carter in the intelligence stakes.’
“Colonel, Doctor McKay, may I sit with you?” Rodney’s head jerked up at the sound of the far too familiar voice, he was too busy staring at her, and cursing himself, to notice the inquiring look Sheppard threw his way as he answered.
“Of course you can, Lieutenant.”
Rodney knew that he was uncharacteristically quiet during the meal. But he felt content simply to listen to Cadman and Sheppard converse, about what, he couldn’t have answered; he just let the sound of their voices wash over him. He realised he was sat with the two people who made him feel safest and it was nice, tranquil even, with the light sea breeze blowing through the open windows. He found himself idly wondering if Cadman were going to finish her mashed potatoes.
“Rodney, do you want my potatoes?” He looked up at the question with the special smile he reserved for people who gave him food.
“Yes I do, it’s like you read my mind.” He said, reaching over to heap the mash onto his plate. He was still smiling at her when she responded.
‘I think I did.’ She hadn’t moved her lips. Rodney dropped his fork.
Cadman was staring at him in a manner he found disconcerting, but oddly nice, then it happened again. ‘Rodney, blink if you can hear me.’
Rodney, rebuking himself for clearly losing his mind, blinked slowly. When he looked at Cadman she was grinning.
Rodney thought carefully, ‘Can you hear me?’
‘Yeah, this is so cool!’ She was practically vibrating, and hey, that was his trick. Suddenly it occurred to Rodney that he actually was losing his mind. For whatever reason, he seemed to be missing having Cadman in his head, so his subconscious had put her back there.
He stood up hurriedly; abandoning his tray and stolen potatoes, and all but ran out of the mess hall, leaving Sheppard and Cadman calling after him.
***************************************************
“I think I’m going crazy.”
Heightmeyer crossed those lovely long legs of hers and looked at Rodney with that damn ‘understanding’ expression he hated so much.
“And why do you think that?”
He rested his head against the back of the chair and closed his eyes. “Cadman.”
“What about her?”
He sat up, fidgeting, “I miss her. Which is ridiculous. I hated having her in my head, but now she’s gone, I miss her. I can’t sleep properly without her there, chattering on.”
Heightmeyer smiled at him in an encouraging way, “That doesn’t mean you’re crazy Rodney. Missing someone is a perfectly natural emotion.”
“But I don’t even know her, we’re not particularly close.”
“No, but, for a time you shared a body. You were together 24 hours a day and went though a traumatic experience together. You were bound to form a bond during that time. Now that you’re apart again, it will be a shock to your system.”
Rodney looked at Heightmeyer, “Well, yes, I suppose that makes sense, if you look at it that way.” Yes, of course, traumatic life experience, form bonds, yada yada yada, then the other thing occurred to him. “But there’s something else.”
Heightmeyer leaned forward, the very personification of detached interest. “And what’s that?”
“I thought I could hear her, in my head, like before.” Rodney tapped his temple, to extra emphasise the point.
“I see, and when did this happen?”
“At lunch, I thought about her potatoes and she offered them to me.”
Heightmeyer raised her eyebrows, “Is that all?”
“No, I heard, in my head, her asking me to blink.” Rodney was aware of how bizarre this all sounded, it just made him feel more nervous, more worried.
Heightmeyer looked confused, “Asking you to blink?”
“Yes, to see if I could hear her. But I know that it’s utterly ridiculous.” He sat back with a sigh and a shake of his confused head.
“Why is it ridiculous Rodney?”
“Because you don’t hear what other people are thinking. It’s not possible.”
“Just like it’s not possible to have two consciousnesses trapped in the same body?” She raised her eyebrows again and fixed him with a pointed look.
Rodney sat up again, “What?”
Heightmeyer looked at him with an unreadable expression, “Maybe you’re hearing Laura’s voice in your head because you miss having her there. Or, maybe you are actually communicating with her telepathically.”
***************************************************
Rodney lay on his bed, not sleeping, and wishing to goodness he had a piano on Atlantis, at least that would drown out the silence in his brain. He was roused from his thoughts by an unexpected knocking on his door. Moaning to himself, he hauled himself off the bed. Upon opening the door he was surprised to see Cadman standing there, blonde hair loose and gleaming in Atlantis’ muted light.
He was so shocked to see her that he merely stood aside to allow her into the room, not thinking to ask why she was there. She walked past him, and turned around, looking upset, which wasn’t a good look on her normally happy face.
“Are you angry with me?” Well, he hadn’t been expecting that.
“What?”
“Angry? You seemed angry at lunch, when you left.” She’d tipped her head to one side, and her eyes were wide, questioning. He noticed that they were a light green, with a brown ring around the pupils; intriguing eyes, just like the woman herself.
“No, no, I was just…” ‘Going insane’
“You’re not insane.”
“Well, that’s very nice of you to say but…” Rodney stopped himself short when he realised what had just happened. “Wait, you heard that?”
“Yeah, just like I heard you at lunch.”
A wave of relief washed over Rodney, “So it really happened? I wasn’t just imagining it?”
“Imagining it? Why would you imagine having me in your head again?”
Rodney tried to fight the blush he felt sure was colouring his cheeks.
“Well, that’s not really the point now is it?” he deflected. “The point is that we can hear each other’s thoughts.”
“Actually,” she replied with a grin, “I don’t think we can.”
That threw him off balance. “What? But I thought…”
Cadman cut him off, “I think we can hear what we want the other to hear, I was thinking plenty at lunch which I’m sure you didn’t hear, and the first thing I heard from you was your interest in my potatoes.”
“Huh.” ‘That actually makes sense’
“I know it does!”
“Stop that!”
‘No.' She looked him dead in the eyes, a smile dancing on her lips, ‘We’re telepathic, Rodney! Do you have any idea how amazing that is?'
He gulped, the implications of what was happening settling over him, suffocating him with worry, “It’s not amazing, it’s worrying, it means something’s seriously wrong, what if our brains are messed up?” ‘Seriously, this can’t happen, what if we’re brain damaged? What if we’re slowly going insane? What if she never did get out of my brain and she’s just a hallucination? What if we’re actually in comas in the infirmary and this isn’t reality?’
“Rodney, relax. We’re not brain damaged, we’re not in comas, this is real, it’s happening, and trust me, I am NOT a hallucination. You’re the smartest guy in two galaxies, I’m sure you’ll figure it out. In the mean time, we can have fun with this!”
Rodney felt warm inside at receiving a compliment from his current fixation, and being on the receiving end of an incredibly excited smile. But he tried to beat it down, trying to focus on the bad points of their newfound telepathy. But that was counteracted by the fact that Cadman wanted to have ‘fun’ with him. Again he tried to wrestle internally with his confusing emotions for her and the fact that this was a very worrying situation to find himself in. He didn’t win the fight with himself.
‘I suppose it is an interesting phenomenon.’
Cadman bounced up and down, ‘Exactly!’
“Are we going to tell people about this?” ‘Say no, say no’
She laughed, low and throaty, tossing her hair behind her, “No, they might not believe us; also, it’s more fun if it’s a secret, don’t you think?” Cadman winked at him. It felt nice, the thought of a shared secret with someone. The thought that this would be something just between the two of them pleased Rodney. It was a bond they shared, something no one else knew about. His nervousness and worry was quickly being beaten back by the infectious excitement and enthusiasm being directed his way.
“So we’re ok then?” she asked him, still grinning.
“Yeah, we’re good.” ‘Possibly brain damaged, but good.’
“Cool!” She sprung up and down on her toes; Rodney found it incredibly endearing. 'I always wanted a superpower! Now we’ve got one!' “Goodnight Rodney!”
Grinning like a maniac, she bounced out of the door, slender hips swaying.
‘Oh God, I’m a dead man.’
***************************************************
Although he wouldn’t admit it to anyone, Rodney actually started to have a hell of a lot of fun. He and Cadman discovered that they had to be in the same room for their ‘superpower’ to work. They discovered that it worked best if they were looking at one another, but it wasn’t mandatory, such as when it had happened in the lunch line.
They didn’t go out of their way to spend time together, but whenever they ran into each other they could have entire conversations without anyone realising it. If they came across each other in the mess hall they would sit opposite each other. Silently conversing, while their mouths were full of food. Usually this ended with Rodney picking food from Cadman’s tray. Anyone watching probably thought he was being damn rude, but he had asked; the voyeurs just hadn't heard.
The conversations they had weren’t particularly important or meaningful. Just chit-chat about the latest missions, cool technologies that Rodney was excited about, run-ins with other military personnel that had Cadman pissed off. Rodney found out that misogyny and sexism were just as rife in Atlantis as anywhere else, especially when you were blonde and beautiful. This, of course, meant that he found himself playing with the environmental controls of certain expedition member’s quarters. For example, a certain Lieutenant Collins had probably been using a dozen blankets on several occasions, and may even have developed frostbite in the shower. He’d got an entire helping of blue jello when he’d revealed that secret over dinner one day. Dr Weir and Zelenka had been utterly confused as to why Cadman had suddenly burst out laughing while gazing intently down at her stew. But they’d probably put it down to the stresses of being newly stationed in another galaxy.
Stress was one thing that Rodney very rarely thought about, outside of missions, which had an alarming tendency to always turn into life or death situations. He found that finding someone that he could laugh with was a wonderful distraction from the greatly disturbing horrors they faced constantly. The feeling that he shared a secret with someone gave him something to smile about.
So yeah, there was that nagging sense of jealousy that usually arose whenever Beckett was around. But hell, he shared something with Cadman that the Doctor never would. He could hear things that she was thinking. Surely that beats a few dates, which were probably dull and frigid anyway. Right?
***************************************************
Rodney was in the infirmary. How often he ended up there was actually starting to depress him. This time it was for an arrow through the shoulder. An arrow. From an actual bow. This was getting ridiculous. He was hungry, and grouchy, and he hadn’t had his usual infirmary visit from Cadman yet. They’d developed a sort of routine whenever one of them ended up injured or ill. Oh, who was he kidding? Whenever Rodney was injured or ill. She was remarkable healthy, and always managed to keep herself safe, Which, Rodney supposed, was actually a big relief. He didn’t know how he’d handle it if she were in danger.
Rodney’s ears pricked up at a well-known footfall nearby. Ah, here she is.
Sure enough, in sauntered the delectable Lieutenant.
“Hey, McKay.”
“Cadman.” Rodney nodded at her.
She looked at him, eyes flickering to the bandaging on his shoulder.
“I hear that ‘primitive race’ you were so disparaging of had some pretty handy projectile weaponry?” she smirked.
He scowled in retaliation, reproving her for making fun when he could have been dead. Actually dead. But it didn’t matter what happened on the outside, because on the inside their conversation was completely different.
She smiled at him gently, ‘I’m glad you didn’t die.’
‘So am I.’ Rodney returned emphatically.
‘You ok?’
‘I’ll survive, I always do.’ Very stoic of him, Rodney thought.
‘Good.’
This was such a familiar exchange now that it came naturally to them both, the same words each time. The meaning: I care, we’re friends. Friends. Rodney smiled inwardly.
“See you later, McKay.”
“Lieutenant.”
‘Oh and Rodney, the longer you’re in the infirmary, the longer it’s not you that’s getting my jello. I guess you’d better get well soon.’
***************************************************
‘Blue jello is an amazing invention, seriously,’
‘Do you ever think about anything other than food?’
‘I’ll have you know that I think about plenty of other things: science, for example.’
‘Science? That’s a pretty big ballpark.’
‘Well, I’ve got a pretty big brain.’
Cadman smiled, shook her head slightly and poked at her lunch with her fork. She seemed down today. Less her usual perky self, Rodney was concerned.
‘So, what’s up anyway?’
She continued to pick at her food. ‘Nothing.’
‘Hmm, well, for some reason, I don’t believe you.’
She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, looking up at him. “I’m leaving.”
“What?”
“I’m going back to Earth on The Daedalus when it leaves tomorrow.”
“Why? Why would you do that? Why leave Atlantis?” ‘Why leave me?’ Rodney really hoped she hadn’t heard that last part.
“Not my choice, Rodney, I go where I get told to.” She leaned back in her chair.
“Look, I’m probably going to be really busy this afternoon and tomorrow, so I guess…” She stopped herself, giving him a wan smile.
‘This is goodbye…’ Rodney looked at her. The thought of not having her around, of not having their connection, it terrified him. Going back to being alone in his head, he really didn’t think he could hack it.
‘Yeah, it’s been fun I guess.’ She stood up, nudging her half finished tray over to his side of the table. “Goodbye, Rodney.”
“Goodbye.” As he watched her leave the mess-hall, he was engulfed by a feeling he couldn’t recognise. He suddenly didn’t know what to do with himself. So he did the only thing he could do, finished the blue jello, and tried not to imagine what life would be like when she was gone.
***************************************************
Rodney was talking to Sheppard, discussing the weekly progress report, when the back of a blonde head caught his attention. ‘What the hell? She’s meant to have left?!’
“Cadman?” he practically shouted down the corridor. She turned round, and it really was her.
“What are you doing here?” he made his way towards her. He was completely flustered, all last night he’d lain awake thinking about how he was going to cope when he lost his, well, his coping mechanism. Now, here she was, all bright eyed and still here.
“Well, it’s good to see you too Rodney.” ‘I’m still here!’ She was obviously trying to keep a straight face to save herself from grinning.
“I thought you were leaving on the Daedalus?” ‘Why are you here? Are you staying for good?’
“Yeah I was, but something came up.” She looked at him pointedly, ‘Carson and I are doing too well, I just couldn’t leave!’ “I asked Colonel Sheppard if I could stay around a little while longer.”
“Oh, well, fine.” Rodney bit down on the surge of jealousy, of course, she was staying for Carson, not for him.
“You ok with that?” She looked at him questioningly.
“Yeah, of course it is, why wouldn’t it be?” He fumbled his way through a reply, then thought ‘I’m glad you’re still here.’
She passed between him and Sheppard, fixing him with a look. ‘So am I, Rodney, so am I.’
***************************************************
He knew he shouldn’t be saying it. Knew that it was an awful thing to say, but he wasn’t thinking clearly. The emotions of the last day, the fear of being alone, the joy at finding her still her in Atlantis, and the urgent jealousy when he heard the cause, they were all eating away at him. Not to mention the terror of the latest emergency. ‘There’s a bomb on Atlantis.’
Then he had to work next to her, with her chattering away in his head about how glad she was that she was staying, how happy she was to be able to spend more time with Carson. He was grouchy with her he knew; he snapped at her, but that was to be expected, they had important work, and she should be giving it her full attention, not thinking about her boyfriend
So when Elizabeth asked whom they suspected, it just popped out.
“What about Lieutenant Cadman?” He knew it wasn’t, not really. He was glad when he wasn’t taken up on his ‘suspicions,’ but he didn’t know what had made him say it. He wasn’t usually a spiteful man, you could call Rodney a lot of things, but spiteful? Not usually. Until now, it seemed. Yes, he regretted it, but it wasn’t really something he could take back, not now.
***************************************************
Rodney sat eating his evening meal, the latest catastrophe had been averted, and hadn’t that been interesting? Colonel Caldwell, a Go’auld, lord. You just didn’t know what was going to happen next in this crazy galaxy.
Suddenly Cadman threw her tray down opposite Rodney; she banged herself down in the chair, focusing on her food like it was the most interesting thing she’d ever seen. She didn’t look up at Rodney, but she was, as ever, in his head.
‘Why did you say that to Dr Weir and Colonel Sheppard?’
Rodney drew a complete blank. ‘Huh? What do you mean?’
Cadman looked up from her food, her green eyes flashing in anger. ‘That you thought I was the bomber. I heard you. You knew it wasn’t me!’
‘I didn’t know that at all!’ He thought back angrily, he was embarrassed enough to have said it, but to have her hear it, that made things a hundred times worse.
‘You can hear my thoughts Rodney!’
‘No, I can hear what you want me to hear!’
Cadman stood up abruptly, her chair screeching across the floor. She shoved her tray across the table at Rodney.
“See you around, McKay.”
***************************************************
After that, everything changed. All of a sudden she was no longer present at his mealtimes. When they ran into each other in the corridors, she wouldn’t look at him. And whenever he spoke to her telepathically she completely ignored him. He tried, he really did try, every time he saw her he tried.
‘I’m sorry. Would you just— look, I’m really sorry.’
But there was never a response; it was like talking down an empty phone line. That thought hit him so hard that he didn’t know what to do, what if she’d actually figured out some way to block him out completely? What if their bond had been broken somehow? That meant, that meant that he was alone again. He didn’t want that, he really didn’t want that.
‘What the hell am I meant to do huh? What do you want me to say? I’ve said I’m sorry! What do you want!”
But she didn’t even bother looking at him.
***************************************************
As days passed, Rodney grew more and more lonely. He started to shut himself off from everyone, Zelenka, Elizabeth, even Sheppard. He longed to hear her voice, was desperate to hear it, but it never happened. He was alone.
When he literally bumped into her one day in the gate room he decided to give it one last shot. But that was even assuming she could actually hear him.
‘Look, I’m sorry, I was….I was….I was jealous ok! I was jealous of Carson, I was jealous because you stayed for Carson, not for me! I know what I said was stupid, I don’t even know why I said it, except that I was upset and jealous, and I don’t even know!’
“Doctor McKay, are you ready for the test flight?” Captain Griffin appeared at Rodney’s shoulder. They were scheduled to take a test flight around the planet in one of the jumpers.
“Yeah, I guess so.” He turned to leave, but decided to try one more time.
‘Please, Laura, I’m sorry, just, please.’
She was looking at him with wide eyes, but as he looked at her, thinking he may have eventually got through, she turned and walked away from him. ‘I guess that’s it then.’
“Right, let’s go flying.”
***************************************************
When Rodney woke, he was in the infirmary. For a moment he was completely disorientated, believing he was still in the puddle jumper, moments from drowning, or hypothermia. The relief at finding himself dry and in a familiar (Oh how he wished it wasn’t so familiar) bed was colossal. He was exhausted, but at least he was alive. Sam was right, they’d come for him, he should have had more faith in his team, in his friends. Well, actually, in a sense, he had had faith, subconsciously; after all, she was his hallucination.
Sheppard visited, and Teyla, Elizabeth, Radek, even Ronon. It was nice, knowing that people cared, it was comforting. After all the visits were through, he heard Carson’s soothing brogue beyond his curtain.
“Yes alright, but only for a few minutes. He’s had a big day.”
The curtain slid aside and Cadman appeared. He was suddenly nervous, this is the first time since their argument that she’d actually sought him out.
“Hey, McKay.” She walked over to his bedside, her eyes running him up and down, as if to check for injuries.
“Cadman.” He swallowed the lump in his throat.
She tipped her head to the side and gazed at him, her eyes sad. Then, she said aloud “I’m glad you didn’t die.”
Rodney, thrown by hearing the familiar phrase with his ears, and not his brain, stammered his way through a response. “Well, thank you. That’s, well, it’s very nice of you.”
“You ok?”
“Oh well, I’ll survive.” He nodded.
She smiled “You always do, right?”
He was taken aback, unsure what this meant, had she forgiven him?
Still looking at him, her expression mellowed, 'I missed you.'
Uncertain how to respond, Rodney went with the ‘oblivious’ approach, 'I was only gone a few hours.'
'You know that’s not what I meant.'
'Well, I kept trying to apologise, which, you know, I’m not good, with the apologising thing, and I don’t, often, but I did try.'
She nodded, 'I know, I was just so angry with you. I thought we were friends, I thought you knew me.'
Rodney looked at her, thought the words at her, as heartfelt as he could, 'I am sorry.'
'Me too.'
Then she smiled that infectious smile at him, bent down and kissed him on the cheek. Her hair brushed his skin and it smelt like lemons; which figured.
She stood up, stretching her long neck as she did so.
“See you later, Rodney.” He smiled at her, glad that, at last, he had his friend back, and she turned, heading out of the infirmary.
“Hey, Cadman.”
She looked over her shoulder at him, questioning expression on her face.
'Our secret superpower?' he inquired.
'Still our secret.'
And with a wink, she was gone.
Author: Salsatiable
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Main Characters: Rodney McKay, Laura Cadman
Rating: PG
Summary: "Rodney had, foolishly perhaps, expected things to go back to normal after being released from the infirmary.”
Spoilers: Takes place straight after Duet, also contains hefty spoilers for Critical Mass and Grace Under Pressure.
Word Count: 4583. I know I know, I went over the limit, I’m really sorry. What was, in my head, a nice little ficlet kind of got out of hand.
Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate Atlantis or any of it’s characters. I write merely for the love of it. Also, part of the dialogue is taken directly from The Stargate: Atlantis episode Critical Mass.
A/N: Written for the ‘Secret Superpower’ challenge on
sga_flashficMy thanks, as always, to
ferret_kitty for being a great beta and encouraging me, and for never remembering the attachments, proving that no-one is perfect.Rodney had, foolishly perhaps, expected things to go back to normal after being released from the infirmary. But, seriously, what could be considered normal when you were living in the Pegasus Galaxy? It turned out that the bliss of being alone in his body was destined to be pretty short-lived.
It lasted, in fact, until he went to bed that first night. Lying there, in his boxers and favourite t-shirt, he felt strangely alone. There was no sniping, no snarking, no arguing, and no competition for control. Somehow, though in no doubt irritating, it had all been bizarrely soothing. Now there was just the silence of his own thoughts, and a body that responded merely to him.
It seemed peculiar to Rodney that he actually missed the invasion of having Cadman inside his head. He even felt a stab of sadness when, on going to the bathroom and looking up at the ceiling, he realised that he no longer needed to do so. There was no one in his head to spy on him.
The next few days were long and dull; he didn’t see Cadman, why would he? But he found himself thinking of her, almost constantly, almost obsessively. He even considered taking himself for a run at night, maybe he’d bump into her, but he abandoned that plan; too high an effort for an uncertain reward. He realised it had all gone too far when he decided to do without the boxers and T-shirt, to follow her lead and sleep ‘in the buff’
He found himself wondering if she missed him the way he missed her. ‘No of course she doesn’t, she has the excitement of being back in her own body to keep her busy.’ Unfortunately that led him to thoughts of Cadman’s body, and that road led him nowhere good. Namely to him wondering if she were at that moment in bed naked just as he was. ‘Now doesn’t that just create a need for a cold shower. Pathetic pathetic pathetic,’ he chastised himself, turning over and over, the sense of loneliness almost overwhelming.
***************************************************
The first time it happened, he was in the mess hall. Standing at the front of the queue with Sheppard; and ok, so he was taking his time over choosing his food, but hello, the wrong choice could result in death, who else in the line could say that?! There was also the added distraction of not having an internal argument over what he should be digesting, and really, he shouldn’t be missing that!
“Come on Rodney, there’s other people hungry you know.”
Finally hearing the chirpy voice was like a delightful release, it brought a completely involuntary smile to his face. However, for the look of the thing, he turned around to admonish Cadman (he had a reputation to uphold after all), but was shocked to find that she was at the end of the queue, a good twenty people away from him. He’d been convinced she’d been stood right next to him. He shook his head, momentarily confused, then turned back to the food.
“You ok?” Sheppard asked, looking concerned, which was gratifying, or maybe worrying, he wasn’t sure which just yet.
“Yes, yes, I’m fine.” Rodney replied, waving off the question, as he headed to their usual table and plonked himself down. Telling himself as he did so that his ridiculous obsession with Cadman had to stop. ‘She isn’t that special. Yes ok, she’s blonde, and pretty, and nice to you, despite, well, despite you, but let’s face it, she’s no Sam Carter in the intelligence stakes.’
“Colonel, Doctor McKay, may I sit with you?” Rodney’s head jerked up at the sound of the far too familiar voice, he was too busy staring at her, and cursing himself, to notice the inquiring look Sheppard threw his way as he answered.
“Of course you can, Lieutenant.”
Rodney knew that he was uncharacteristically quiet during the meal. But he felt content simply to listen to Cadman and Sheppard converse, about what, he couldn’t have answered; he just let the sound of their voices wash over him. He realised he was sat with the two people who made him feel safest and it was nice, tranquil even, with the light sea breeze blowing through the open windows. He found himself idly wondering if Cadman were going to finish her mashed potatoes.
“Rodney, do you want my potatoes?” He looked up at the question with the special smile he reserved for people who gave him food.
“Yes I do, it’s like you read my mind.” He said, reaching over to heap the mash onto his plate. He was still smiling at her when she responded.
‘I think I did.’ She hadn’t moved her lips. Rodney dropped his fork.
Cadman was staring at him in a manner he found disconcerting, but oddly nice, then it happened again. ‘Rodney, blink if you can hear me.’
Rodney, rebuking himself for clearly losing his mind, blinked slowly. When he looked at Cadman she was grinning.
Rodney thought carefully, ‘Can you hear me?’
‘Yeah, this is so cool!’ She was practically vibrating, and hey, that was his trick. Suddenly it occurred to Rodney that he actually was losing his mind. For whatever reason, he seemed to be missing having Cadman in his head, so his subconscious had put her back there.
He stood up hurriedly; abandoning his tray and stolen potatoes, and all but ran out of the mess hall, leaving Sheppard and Cadman calling after him.
***************************************************
“I think I’m going crazy.”
Heightmeyer crossed those lovely long legs of hers and looked at Rodney with that damn ‘understanding’ expression he hated so much.
“And why do you think that?”
He rested his head against the back of the chair and closed his eyes. “Cadman.”
“What about her?”
He sat up, fidgeting, “I miss her. Which is ridiculous. I hated having her in my head, but now she’s gone, I miss her. I can’t sleep properly without her there, chattering on.”
Heightmeyer smiled at him in an encouraging way, “That doesn’t mean you’re crazy Rodney. Missing someone is a perfectly natural emotion.”
“But I don’t even know her, we’re not particularly close.”
“No, but, for a time you shared a body. You were together 24 hours a day and went though a traumatic experience together. You were bound to form a bond during that time. Now that you’re apart again, it will be a shock to your system.”
Rodney looked at Heightmeyer, “Well, yes, I suppose that makes sense, if you look at it that way.” Yes, of course, traumatic life experience, form bonds, yada yada yada, then the other thing occurred to him. “But there’s something else.”
Heightmeyer leaned forward, the very personification of detached interest. “And what’s that?”
“I thought I could hear her, in my head, like before.” Rodney tapped his temple, to extra emphasise the point.
“I see, and when did this happen?”
“At lunch, I thought about her potatoes and she offered them to me.”
Heightmeyer raised her eyebrows, “Is that all?”
“No, I heard, in my head, her asking me to blink.” Rodney was aware of how bizarre this all sounded, it just made him feel more nervous, more worried.
Heightmeyer looked confused, “Asking you to blink?”
“Yes, to see if I could hear her. But I know that it’s utterly ridiculous.” He sat back with a sigh and a shake of his confused head.
“Why is it ridiculous Rodney?”
“Because you don’t hear what other people are thinking. It’s not possible.”
“Just like it’s not possible to have two consciousnesses trapped in the same body?” She raised her eyebrows again and fixed him with a pointed look.
Rodney sat up again, “What?”
Heightmeyer looked at him with an unreadable expression, “Maybe you’re hearing Laura’s voice in your head because you miss having her there. Or, maybe you are actually communicating with her telepathically.”
***************************************************
Rodney lay on his bed, not sleeping, and wishing to goodness he had a piano on Atlantis, at least that would drown out the silence in his brain. He was roused from his thoughts by an unexpected knocking on his door. Moaning to himself, he hauled himself off the bed. Upon opening the door he was surprised to see Cadman standing there, blonde hair loose and gleaming in Atlantis’ muted light.
He was so shocked to see her that he merely stood aside to allow her into the room, not thinking to ask why she was there. She walked past him, and turned around, looking upset, which wasn’t a good look on her normally happy face.
“Are you angry with me?” Well, he hadn’t been expecting that.
“What?”
“Angry? You seemed angry at lunch, when you left.” She’d tipped her head to one side, and her eyes were wide, questioning. He noticed that they were a light green, with a brown ring around the pupils; intriguing eyes, just like the woman herself.
“No, no, I was just…” ‘Going insane’
“You’re not insane.”
“Well, that’s very nice of you to say but…” Rodney stopped himself short when he realised what had just happened. “Wait, you heard that?”
“Yeah, just like I heard you at lunch.”
A wave of relief washed over Rodney, “So it really happened? I wasn’t just imagining it?”
“Imagining it? Why would you imagine having me in your head again?”
Rodney tried to fight the blush he felt sure was colouring his cheeks.
“Well, that’s not really the point now is it?” he deflected. “The point is that we can hear each other’s thoughts.”
“Actually,” she replied with a grin, “I don’t think we can.”
That threw him off balance. “What? But I thought…”
Cadman cut him off, “I think we can hear what we want the other to hear, I was thinking plenty at lunch which I’m sure you didn’t hear, and the first thing I heard from you was your interest in my potatoes.”
“Huh.” ‘That actually makes sense’
“I know it does!”
“Stop that!”
‘No.' She looked him dead in the eyes, a smile dancing on her lips, ‘We’re telepathic, Rodney! Do you have any idea how amazing that is?'
He gulped, the implications of what was happening settling over him, suffocating him with worry, “It’s not amazing, it’s worrying, it means something’s seriously wrong, what if our brains are messed up?” ‘Seriously, this can’t happen, what if we’re brain damaged? What if we’re slowly going insane? What if she never did get out of my brain and she’s just a hallucination? What if we’re actually in comas in the infirmary and this isn’t reality?’
“Rodney, relax. We’re not brain damaged, we’re not in comas, this is real, it’s happening, and trust me, I am NOT a hallucination. You’re the smartest guy in two galaxies, I’m sure you’ll figure it out. In the mean time, we can have fun with this!”
Rodney felt warm inside at receiving a compliment from his current fixation, and being on the receiving end of an incredibly excited smile. But he tried to beat it down, trying to focus on the bad points of their newfound telepathy. But that was counteracted by the fact that Cadman wanted to have ‘fun’ with him. Again he tried to wrestle internally with his confusing emotions for her and the fact that this was a very worrying situation to find himself in. He didn’t win the fight with himself.
‘I suppose it is an interesting phenomenon.’
Cadman bounced up and down, ‘Exactly!’
“Are we going to tell people about this?” ‘Say no, say no’
She laughed, low and throaty, tossing her hair behind her, “No, they might not believe us; also, it’s more fun if it’s a secret, don’t you think?” Cadman winked at him. It felt nice, the thought of a shared secret with someone. The thought that this would be something just between the two of them pleased Rodney. It was a bond they shared, something no one else knew about. His nervousness and worry was quickly being beaten back by the infectious excitement and enthusiasm being directed his way.
“So we’re ok then?” she asked him, still grinning.
“Yeah, we’re good.” ‘Possibly brain damaged, but good.’
“Cool!” She sprung up and down on her toes; Rodney found it incredibly endearing. 'I always wanted a superpower! Now we’ve got one!' “Goodnight Rodney!”
Grinning like a maniac, she bounced out of the door, slender hips swaying.
‘Oh God, I’m a dead man.’
***************************************************
Although he wouldn’t admit it to anyone, Rodney actually started to have a hell of a lot of fun. He and Cadman discovered that they had to be in the same room for their ‘superpower’ to work. They discovered that it worked best if they were looking at one another, but it wasn’t mandatory, such as when it had happened in the lunch line.
They didn’t go out of their way to spend time together, but whenever they ran into each other they could have entire conversations without anyone realising it. If they came across each other in the mess hall they would sit opposite each other. Silently conversing, while their mouths were full of food. Usually this ended with Rodney picking food from Cadman’s tray. Anyone watching probably thought he was being damn rude, but he had asked; the voyeurs just hadn't heard.
The conversations they had weren’t particularly important or meaningful. Just chit-chat about the latest missions, cool technologies that Rodney was excited about, run-ins with other military personnel that had Cadman pissed off. Rodney found out that misogyny and sexism were just as rife in Atlantis as anywhere else, especially when you were blonde and beautiful. This, of course, meant that he found himself playing with the environmental controls of certain expedition member’s quarters. For example, a certain Lieutenant Collins had probably been using a dozen blankets on several occasions, and may even have developed frostbite in the shower. He’d got an entire helping of blue jello when he’d revealed that secret over dinner one day. Dr Weir and Zelenka had been utterly confused as to why Cadman had suddenly burst out laughing while gazing intently down at her stew. But they’d probably put it down to the stresses of being newly stationed in another galaxy.
Stress was one thing that Rodney very rarely thought about, outside of missions, which had an alarming tendency to always turn into life or death situations. He found that finding someone that he could laugh with was a wonderful distraction from the greatly disturbing horrors they faced constantly. The feeling that he shared a secret with someone gave him something to smile about.
So yeah, there was that nagging sense of jealousy that usually arose whenever Beckett was around. But hell, he shared something with Cadman that the Doctor never would. He could hear things that she was thinking. Surely that beats a few dates, which were probably dull and frigid anyway. Right?
***************************************************
Rodney was in the infirmary. How often he ended up there was actually starting to depress him. This time it was for an arrow through the shoulder. An arrow. From an actual bow. This was getting ridiculous. He was hungry, and grouchy, and he hadn’t had his usual infirmary visit from Cadman yet. They’d developed a sort of routine whenever one of them ended up injured or ill. Oh, who was he kidding? Whenever Rodney was injured or ill. She was remarkable healthy, and always managed to keep herself safe, Which, Rodney supposed, was actually a big relief. He didn’t know how he’d handle it if she were in danger.
Rodney’s ears pricked up at a well-known footfall nearby. Ah, here she is.
Sure enough, in sauntered the delectable Lieutenant.
“Hey, McKay.”
“Cadman.” Rodney nodded at her.
She looked at him, eyes flickering to the bandaging on his shoulder.
“I hear that ‘primitive race’ you were so disparaging of had some pretty handy projectile weaponry?” she smirked.
He scowled in retaliation, reproving her for making fun when he could have been dead. Actually dead. But it didn’t matter what happened on the outside, because on the inside their conversation was completely different.
She smiled at him gently, ‘I’m glad you didn’t die.’
‘So am I.’ Rodney returned emphatically.
‘You ok?’
‘I’ll survive, I always do.’ Very stoic of him, Rodney thought.
‘Good.’
This was such a familiar exchange now that it came naturally to them both, the same words each time. The meaning: I care, we’re friends. Friends. Rodney smiled inwardly.
“See you later, McKay.”
“Lieutenant.”
‘Oh and Rodney, the longer you’re in the infirmary, the longer it’s not you that’s getting my jello. I guess you’d better get well soon.’
***************************************************
‘Blue jello is an amazing invention, seriously,’
‘Do you ever think about anything other than food?’
‘I’ll have you know that I think about plenty of other things: science, for example.’
‘Science? That’s a pretty big ballpark.’
‘Well, I’ve got a pretty big brain.’
Cadman smiled, shook her head slightly and poked at her lunch with her fork. She seemed down today. Less her usual perky self, Rodney was concerned.
‘So, what’s up anyway?’
She continued to pick at her food. ‘Nothing.’
‘Hmm, well, for some reason, I don’t believe you.’
She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, looking up at him. “I’m leaving.”
“What?”
“I’m going back to Earth on The Daedalus when it leaves tomorrow.”
“Why? Why would you do that? Why leave Atlantis?” ‘Why leave me?’ Rodney really hoped she hadn’t heard that last part.
“Not my choice, Rodney, I go where I get told to.” She leaned back in her chair.
“Look, I’m probably going to be really busy this afternoon and tomorrow, so I guess…” She stopped herself, giving him a wan smile.
‘This is goodbye…’ Rodney looked at her. The thought of not having her around, of not having their connection, it terrified him. Going back to being alone in his head, he really didn’t think he could hack it.
‘Yeah, it’s been fun I guess.’ She stood up, nudging her half finished tray over to his side of the table. “Goodbye, Rodney.”
“Goodbye.” As he watched her leave the mess-hall, he was engulfed by a feeling he couldn’t recognise. He suddenly didn’t know what to do with himself. So he did the only thing he could do, finished the blue jello, and tried not to imagine what life would be like when she was gone.
***************************************************
Rodney was talking to Sheppard, discussing the weekly progress report, when the back of a blonde head caught his attention. ‘What the hell? She’s meant to have left?!’
“Cadman?” he practically shouted down the corridor. She turned round, and it really was her.
“What are you doing here?” he made his way towards her. He was completely flustered, all last night he’d lain awake thinking about how he was going to cope when he lost his, well, his coping mechanism. Now, here she was, all bright eyed and still here.
“Well, it’s good to see you too Rodney.” ‘I’m still here!’ She was obviously trying to keep a straight face to save herself from grinning.
“I thought you were leaving on the Daedalus?” ‘Why are you here? Are you staying for good?’
“Yeah I was, but something came up.” She looked at him pointedly, ‘Carson and I are doing too well, I just couldn’t leave!’ “I asked Colonel Sheppard if I could stay around a little while longer.”
“Oh, well, fine.” Rodney bit down on the surge of jealousy, of course, she was staying for Carson, not for him.
“You ok with that?” She looked at him questioningly.
“Yeah, of course it is, why wouldn’t it be?” He fumbled his way through a reply, then thought ‘I’m glad you’re still here.’
She passed between him and Sheppard, fixing him with a look. ‘So am I, Rodney, so am I.’
***************************************************
He knew he shouldn’t be saying it. Knew that it was an awful thing to say, but he wasn’t thinking clearly. The emotions of the last day, the fear of being alone, the joy at finding her still her in Atlantis, and the urgent jealousy when he heard the cause, they were all eating away at him. Not to mention the terror of the latest emergency. ‘There’s a bomb on Atlantis.’
Then he had to work next to her, with her chattering away in his head about how glad she was that she was staying, how happy she was to be able to spend more time with Carson. He was grouchy with her he knew; he snapped at her, but that was to be expected, they had important work, and she should be giving it her full attention, not thinking about her boyfriend
So when Elizabeth asked whom they suspected, it just popped out.
“What about Lieutenant Cadman?” He knew it wasn’t, not really. He was glad when he wasn’t taken up on his ‘suspicions,’ but he didn’t know what had made him say it. He wasn’t usually a spiteful man, you could call Rodney a lot of things, but spiteful? Not usually. Until now, it seemed. Yes, he regretted it, but it wasn’t really something he could take back, not now.
***************************************************
Rodney sat eating his evening meal, the latest catastrophe had been averted, and hadn’t that been interesting? Colonel Caldwell, a Go’auld, lord. You just didn’t know what was going to happen next in this crazy galaxy.
Suddenly Cadman threw her tray down opposite Rodney; she banged herself down in the chair, focusing on her food like it was the most interesting thing she’d ever seen. She didn’t look up at Rodney, but she was, as ever, in his head.
‘Why did you say that to Dr Weir and Colonel Sheppard?’
Rodney drew a complete blank. ‘Huh? What do you mean?’
Cadman looked up from her food, her green eyes flashing in anger. ‘That you thought I was the bomber. I heard you. You knew it wasn’t me!’
‘I didn’t know that at all!’ He thought back angrily, he was embarrassed enough to have said it, but to have her hear it, that made things a hundred times worse.
‘You can hear my thoughts Rodney!’
‘No, I can hear what you want me to hear!’
Cadman stood up abruptly, her chair screeching across the floor. She shoved her tray across the table at Rodney.
“See you around, McKay.”
***************************************************
After that, everything changed. All of a sudden she was no longer present at his mealtimes. When they ran into each other in the corridors, she wouldn’t look at him. And whenever he spoke to her telepathically she completely ignored him. He tried, he really did try, every time he saw her he tried.
‘I’m sorry. Would you just— look, I’m really sorry.’
But there was never a response; it was like talking down an empty phone line. That thought hit him so hard that he didn’t know what to do, what if she’d actually figured out some way to block him out completely? What if their bond had been broken somehow? That meant, that meant that he was alone again. He didn’t want that, he really didn’t want that.
‘What the hell am I meant to do huh? What do you want me to say? I’ve said I’m sorry! What do you want!”
But she didn’t even bother looking at him.
***************************************************
As days passed, Rodney grew more and more lonely. He started to shut himself off from everyone, Zelenka, Elizabeth, even Sheppard. He longed to hear her voice, was desperate to hear it, but it never happened. He was alone.
When he literally bumped into her one day in the gate room he decided to give it one last shot. But that was even assuming she could actually hear him.
‘Look, I’m sorry, I was….I was….I was jealous ok! I was jealous of Carson, I was jealous because you stayed for Carson, not for me! I know what I said was stupid, I don’t even know why I said it, except that I was upset and jealous, and I don’t even know!’
“Doctor McKay, are you ready for the test flight?” Captain Griffin appeared at Rodney’s shoulder. They were scheduled to take a test flight around the planet in one of the jumpers.
“Yeah, I guess so.” He turned to leave, but decided to try one more time.
‘Please, Laura, I’m sorry, just, please.’
She was looking at him with wide eyes, but as he looked at her, thinking he may have eventually got through, she turned and walked away from him. ‘I guess that’s it then.’
“Right, let’s go flying.”
***************************************************
When Rodney woke, he was in the infirmary. For a moment he was completely disorientated, believing he was still in the puddle jumper, moments from drowning, or hypothermia. The relief at finding himself dry and in a familiar (Oh how he wished it wasn’t so familiar) bed was colossal. He was exhausted, but at least he was alive. Sam was right, they’d come for him, he should have had more faith in his team, in his friends. Well, actually, in a sense, he had had faith, subconsciously; after all, she was his hallucination.
Sheppard visited, and Teyla, Elizabeth, Radek, even Ronon. It was nice, knowing that people cared, it was comforting. After all the visits were through, he heard Carson’s soothing brogue beyond his curtain.
“Yes alright, but only for a few minutes. He’s had a big day.”
The curtain slid aside and Cadman appeared. He was suddenly nervous, this is the first time since their argument that she’d actually sought him out.
“Hey, McKay.” She walked over to his bedside, her eyes running him up and down, as if to check for injuries.
“Cadman.” He swallowed the lump in his throat.
She tipped her head to the side and gazed at him, her eyes sad. Then, she said aloud “I’m glad you didn’t die.”
Rodney, thrown by hearing the familiar phrase with his ears, and not his brain, stammered his way through a response. “Well, thank you. That’s, well, it’s very nice of you.”
“You ok?”
“Oh well, I’ll survive.” He nodded.
She smiled “You always do, right?”
He was taken aback, unsure what this meant, had she forgiven him?
Still looking at him, her expression mellowed, 'I missed you.'
Uncertain how to respond, Rodney went with the ‘oblivious’ approach, 'I was only gone a few hours.'
'You know that’s not what I meant.'
'Well, I kept trying to apologise, which, you know, I’m not good, with the apologising thing, and I don’t, often, but I did try.'
She nodded, 'I know, I was just so angry with you. I thought we were friends, I thought you knew me.'
Rodney looked at her, thought the words at her, as heartfelt as he could, 'I am sorry.'
'Me too.'
Then she smiled that infectious smile at him, bent down and kissed him on the cheek. Her hair brushed his skin and it smelt like lemons; which figured.
She stood up, stretching her long neck as she did so.
“See you later, Rodney.” He smiled at her, glad that, at last, he had his friend back, and she turned, heading out of the infirmary.
“Hey, Cadman.”
She looked over her shoulder at him, questioning expression on her face.
'Our secret superpower?' he inquired.
'Still our secret.'
And with a wink, she was gone.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-15 06:31 pm (UTC):P
I figured out why I like this so much. Sure, it's longer than it was supposed to be, but it feels complete. Everything is dealt with, everthing is resolved. It doesn't leave the reader wanting more (although wanting more can be a good thing), and that's really great. And it doesn't feel rushed.
Or maybe it's just that it's really really good. *shrugs*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 10:39 am (UTC)I think that's usually my problem, I want to go into too much detail, tie up every loose end. I'm glad you think it works here though :)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-15 06:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 11:48 am (UTC)Thanks for taking the time to read and comment! I'm glad you liked it :)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-15 08:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 11:52 am (UTC)So, because I'm nosy like that, I visited your LJ and website. I just wanted to say that I love your comics and artwork, you're very talented. :)
Also, is the name ratcreature in reference to the 'Bone' graphic novels?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 12:26 pm (UTC)And yeah, it is a Bone reference. When I first joined online fandom I wanted an obviously fannish pseud, but not one tied directly to human character names from fandoms I was active in then, because I wanted it to be able last with my already budding multi-fannishness. Besides I like regular rats too, so that association is fine with me, and it's easy to pronounce and spell.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-15 09:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 11:52 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-15 10:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 11:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 01:13 am (UTC)I don't suppose there's any chance of a sequel...? :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 12:02 pm (UTC)I'm glad you liked it :)
Haha, I have a fair number of sequels in the works, so I don't know if there will ever be one to this. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 02:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 12:03 pm (UTC)I love how lighthearted and fun this challenge is, especially after the darkside challenge!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 02:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 12:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 01:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 01:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 04:42 pm (UTC)I hope you will consider writing a sequel, because I really love both the way you write them and the concept of their little secret.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 07:00 pm (UTC)I'm always fascinated by what goes on after the episode finishes, what aren't we seeing?
I'm so pleased that this has received a good reception. I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Given the crush I have on Jaime Ray Newman, and my adoration of the character of Cadman, I'm thinking there'll end up being a sequel sooner or later!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 09:29 pm (UTC)And Episode tags are always interesting.
I really like Laura, I hope we will se more of her this season. And yay! for possible sequel. It would be nice to have her dating carson and giving advices to Rodney on how to get Sheppard (after all it is canon that she tries to help Rodney with his love life *g*).
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-16 08:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-17 01:04 pm (UTC)I am a big Cadman fan myself, so I'm glad you think I wrote her right :)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-22 11:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-22 12:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-22 08:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-23 06:33 am (UTC)I'm pretty sure I'll write more, the concept is too much fun to leave alone!
I actually had John noticing written into the first draft then decided against it, so maybe I'll put it back in in the future! :)