The Star's Heart, Chapter 11, part 2
Title: "The Mystery of the Star's Heart"
Author: Taylor Dancinghands -taylor@tdancinghands.com
Characters: McKay, Sheppard, Beckett, Zelenka, Weir, Teyla, Ronon, (nun!)Jeannie McKay, Grodin, Lorne, Caldwell, among others.
Pairings: Zelenka/McKay, Sheppard/Lorne past and Sheppard/Lorne/Teyla, Beckett/Weir, Caldwell/Jeannie McKay romance background
Category: slash, pre-slash, Steampunk AU, romance, action/adventure
Spoilers: none
Warnings: m/m relationships
Rating: Teen
Summary:In a bygone future that never was, the US Special Projects Bureau's Airship Daedalus carries an expedition into the Hollow Earth to discover the fabled lost city of Atlantis...
(An index for the whole story to-date can be found here.)
Chapter 11, pt 2
***
Rodney knew when the sun left the mirror array, as the lights in the corridors outside the small room where they worked all came on. The lights inside the power room had all been thoroughly destroyed, however, and so Rodney and Radek continued to work by the light of one of his mantle lanterns. Without any window to the outside, they had no idea of the passage of time, nor of the course of the battle -whose advent they had to deduce from the distant sound of the Daedalus' cannon fire, and from the shock to the city they all felt, when the first wraith loosened boulder struck it.
Even that sobering reminder of how desperate of their situation was did not cause Rodney and Radek to pause in their work any more than to exchange worried glances. The cold dinners that had been brought down to them a little while earlier still sat on a near by counter, a few bites taken from each, but otherwise neglected. They would eat when they had accomplished their goal.
They were getting close. Rodney had sent Gaul and the other scientists away an hour ago, as only the most exacting work remained, and he and Zelenka were the only ones he trusted to do it right. He wished profoundly that they had more time, for it was clear that they were working with an extremely powerful energy source, and any mistake could have disastrous consequences, for them and the city.
"Jéžiši!" Radek cried as they both staggered, feeling the city shudder under another onslaught of boulders. Rodney might wish for more time, but it was clear that they were not going to get it. Fitting what he hoped was the last connector in place, Rodney closed the access panel he'd been working on and turned to Radek, seeing him do the same.
"Oh my god, are you done?" Rodney asked, not sure whether he was hoping for or dreading Radek's affirmative answer.
"Doufám že ano," Radek muttered then, looking up and realizing that Rodney hadn't understood, said, "I hope so."
"There's a ringing endorsement," Rodney muttered to himself, aware that he was no more confident of his own work. "Well then, you'd better stand back," he said more loudly as he opened the case holding the Star's Heart with hands he refused to admit were shaking.
Reverently, he lifted the artifact from its case and placed it in the similarly shaped indentation on the console. It went only part way in at first, and Rodney waited to see if it would slide further in on its own, but nothing happened.
"Maybe..." Zelenka suggested hesitantly. "Maybe you should... push down a little?" He gestured pushing the Star's Heart into the console, then shrugged.
Uncertain, Rodney glanced between Zelenka and the console, waited another moment, then decided to give it a try. He didn't push hard, but it wasn't needed. At his first firm nudge he felt something engage, and the Star's Heart began to lower itself into the console.
"Yes!" Rodney shouted, pumping his fist into the air, and then he stood back too, waiting to see what would happen. There was something like a breathless pause, and then the whole room -perhaps the whole city, Rodney considered- began to vibrate, ever so slightly. A low, sub-bass hum accompanied the vibration, and it seemed to be growing. Rodney wondered if he and Radek shouldn't just get the heck out of that room, when the vibrating hum came to a crescendo, and suddenly the corridors outside weren't just lit, they blazed with light.
"Whoa!" said Ronon, still standing guard just outside the door with Miller. "You guys do that?"
"Um," said Rodney, noticing a growing burning smell in the power room. "I think so. Radek, maybe we should..."
He was interrupted by a cascade of sparks erupting from a panel on the side of the console (where he'd been working), and a moment later, more burst from the wall behind Radek. Wide eyed, Zelenka ducked and made to follow Rodney's aborted suggestion to head for the door. Unfortunately, it was already too late.
Outside in the corridor the lights only flickered slightly, but within the power room, sparks were flying everywhere. Rodney only escaped by throwing himself on the floor, and even as he did so he saw, out of the corner of his eye, a massive electrical arc, leaping from the main console to the panel behind Radek, passing through the Czech engineer as it did so.
Rodney heard Radek's agonized cry, even as he tumbled to safety just beyond the threshold. When he looked back into the power room he saw Radek's prone body, unmoving as more panels sparked all around him. Rodney didn't stop to think, much (for every electrical engineer knows to proceed cautiously when high current may be involved) and for that reason he pulled his jacket sleeve over his hands before he reached back into the room to grab Radek and drag him out into the corridor.
"Careful Doc," Miller shouted uselessly even as Rodney and Radek reached safety, but Rodney hardly heard him. Radek wasn't moving, or speaking, and there was a terrible scorch mark over his chest, right over his heart. "Oh, god, oh god, oh god," Rodney muttered, opening the still smoldering vest and shirt with trembling hands to see the very damage that he feared the most.
"Still breathing," said Ronon, who Rodney now realized had come to kneel on Radek's other side. "What the hell is... is that his heart?"
"No, no, no... It's not his heart, it just helps his heart," Rodney babbled, struggling to stave of panic. "His heart is weak, because it was injured when he was younger... with an electric shock... Oh god I don't know if I can fix this..."
"Looks just like the kind of stuff you guys fix all the time," Ronon said, which should have pleased Rodney no end to hear, but did nothing to mitigate the terrible feeling of helplessness growing in his gut. Then he felt Radek's fingers tighten in his. His eyes fluttered open and he coughed feebly, and Rodney's own heat leapt.
"Rodney?" Radek whispered.
"Um..." Rodney said. "You... didn't happen to pack any spare parts with you, did you? I mean, for your, ah, heart... thing."
"Bohužel ne," Radek said with a pained attempt at a smile, and though Rodney didn't understand the words, the meaning was clear. Radek tried to raise his head to see himself, and Rodney quickly took of his jacket, rolled it and placed it under Radek's head.
"Oh... dear. That does not look good," he said, letting his head fall back to the make-shift pillow -his eyes drifting closed.
"It's... it looks completely fused," Rodney said, working hard to keep his voice steady. "I'm sure I could rebuild it, or build another if I had the plans... and the time..."
"But you do not," Radek said sadly and Rodney felt his throat constrict. Radek's hand moved to cover his, and squeezed it gently.
"You know, Rodney, and I know, that I have been living on borrowed time, these last sixteen years," he said softly. "It is not so... unexpected."
"No, no, no, no, you do not get to gracefully bow out now!" Rodney choked out. "We have not even begun to bring the combined power of our intellect to bear on the problems of the world, much less this city!"
Radek only tipped his head to meet Rodney's eyes with his own, pale blue and, for once, not obscured behind his glasses -which lay somewhere on the power room floor. "Rodney," he sighed, voice barely audible. "Miláčku... I am very sorry..."
Radek's eyes drifted closed, his hand falling still on Rodney's, and Rodney felt something like a fist of sheer terror seize his heart.
"Radek!" he cried, but he had slipped into unconsciousness, possibly for the final time.
No, no, no; no panicking, not now, Rodney told himself sternly. Radek needs your brains functioning at top capacity, not dithering like a child's. Think!!
"Maybe I should send for the doc," Miller suggested, to which Rodney responded with impatient scorn.
"Beckett can no more fix him than I can cure your dandruff," Rodney snapped. "He needs an engineer, not a voodoo practitioner... He needs an engineer who can fix a highly complex, delicately calibrated device, without the plans and in less than twenty..." Rodney glanced over at Radek, taking in his shallow, panting breaths, his pale skin and the slight bluish hue to his lips and recalculated. "Okay, maybe more like ten minutes."
"I dunno," said Ronon. "Sounds more like magic than science to me. But then, this city's full of stuff that you guys say is science, but looks like magic to me."
"Yes, well," Rodney said, gingerly wiping some of the scorch marks off the cracked crystal at the center of the fatally damaged device embedded in Radek's chest. "It's not uncommon for the uninitiated to mistake something for magic when it's actually just science that you just don't understa..." He trailed off -struck, suddenly, with inspiration.
"Ronon, can you carry him?" Rodney asked, standing abruptly.
"Sure," said Ronon. "Where to?"
"To the chair room," Rodney answered, holding in his mind the image of Sheppard's pocket watch just after he'd rescued Rodney on the deck of the Daedalus -crystal smashed and case hopelessly crushed- and later, after his first encounter with the chair, looking as perfect as the day it had been made. Like magic, he remembered thinking, in spite of how well he knew better.
"We're going to take Zelenka to the chair room," Rodney reiterated. "You," he pointed at Miller, "stay here, and don't let anyone in there." He indicated the power room, where the sparking and electrical arcs had subsided for now, but Rodney had the feeling that the Star's Heart was home for good.
Anxiously aware of every passing second, Rodney followed Ronon and Radek to the lift and then crowded in with them. Upon arriving on the chair room level, he had eyes only for the chair in the center of the room, ignoring the frankly astonishing spectacle of dancing light outside. Impatient with Sheppard's slow response, Rodney was nearly ready to haul the man bodily out of the chair when he finally wakened to his immediate surroundings and took in the vision of Ronon holding Radek's prone form.
"What the...?" he exclaimed, looking a bit dazed but pulling himself together quickly. "Zelenka! What the hell happened?"
"Electrical shock," Rodney answered curtly. "He needs the chair to fix him. Now!"
Sheppard started to move, but slowly, looking confused. "Ah... McKay, the chair fixes mechanical things -as far as we know," he said. "Zelenka..."
"Needs a mechanical repair," Rodney interrupted, too impatient to explain. He waved Ronon over so that Sheppard could see the mess of fused parts in Radek's chest and when he did his eyes widened with astonishment.
"Is that... is that his heart?" Sheppard exclaimed, still not moving out of the chair quickly enough.
"No, it's his liver!" Rodney snapped. "You can wait to hear a complete explanation at his eulogy or you can get your ass out of that chair and let me save his life!"
To his credit, Sheppard moved quickly once he had the critical facts and Ronon laid the unconscious scientist gently in the chair. The control interfaces on the arms had retracted the moment Sheppard had stepped away, and now it lay quiescent with Radek sitting in it. Nothing, Rodney saw with anxious dread, was happening.
"Oh god, it's because he doesn't have the touch," he said, wringing his hands. "It's not going to work..."
"Hang on a second," Sheppard said, crouching beside the chair. He stretched out one arm and laid it on the chair's arm rest and immediately something changed. The chair reclined, as it had under Sheppard, and a moment later a web of electrical tendrils emerged from the chair's surface began to creep over Radek's body. They converged over his heart almost immediately, masking it in a luminous net of electricity.
Rodney held his breath, suspended between hope and terror when Radek's body began to twitch and shudder under the high voltage onslaught, but after less than a minute the arcs and charges began to subside. With the retreat of the last spark, Rodney heard Radek Zelenka draw a long, deep breath and, hearing that sound, found that he could release his own. Weak in the knees with relief, Rodney watched Radek's eyes blink open, pupils focused and aware as he glanced around him.
"What... what happened?" he asked and Rodney could have wept to hear him. Stumbling forward to crouch beside the chair, Rodney took Radek's hand, half aware that any number of people were watching, and well beyond caring.
"You... you were shocked," Rodney said. "Down in the power room. Do you remember?"
Radek blinked again, then frowned in thought and his eyes widened in alarm.
"Sakra!," he said, trying to look down at his own chest. "Můj srdcový pomocník..."
Casting his own eyes down to the device, Rodney noticed first that the flesh around Radek's heart assistant device was still reddened and even scorched in places and he realized that his friend was probably in shock or something like it at the moment. The marvelously complex device that provided the strength his heart no longer had, however, was in perfect condition and he could hear its faithful clockwork motion, running just as it should in Radek's chest.
"We fixed it," Rodney said, voice steeped with wonder at the fact. "Or rather, the chair did -I really have no idea how."
"You fixed it..." Radek repeated, dazedly looking down at himself. He gave a long slow blink at what he saw.
"Tak..." he said after a long moment, relaxing back in the chair. "It would seem that I am given yet more time to borrow... at some cost. Ow. Everything hurts."
As if on cue, it was at this very moment that Dr Beckett appeared, accompanied by Elizabeth, two stretcher bearers and Peter Grodin -who had probably been the one to go fetch him.
Now Rodney found himself shunted aside as Beckett attended to Radek and Rodney had the sudden realization that if he didn't sit down very soon he was going to fall down. He was profoundly grateful, therefore, to find both Sheppard and Dr Weir at his side, guiding him to sit on the steps at the base of the chair and not pestering him with questions, but just sitting with him. They helped him stand when Beckett had moved Radek to the stretcher and the bearers began to carry him to the infirmary, knowing without asking that Rodney needed to follow.
Sheppard returned to the chair once Radek was out of it, leaving Elizabeth to accompany Rodney to the infirmary, and Rodney did pause as they left the chair room, to watch the lights outside leap into action again at Sheppard's unspoken command.
"We have the two of you to thank for that, you know," Elizabeth pointed out. "We'd most likely be fighting the wraith in the very corridors of the city now, if it weren't for you and Dr Zelenka."
These were the very sorts of words Rodney tended to expect for the sort of work he did, and he normally tended to accept them as his due, but at the moment all he felt was slightly abashed.
"Well, it's what we came here to do," he said with a shrug. "Fix stuff, I mean." Rodney's eyes moved from the battle outside to take in the rest of the city around him, reminded again of its vastness and complexity, and how completely beyond his understanding most of it was.
"This place, though," he said. "It's so far beyond anything I've ever seen before, or even heard of. I've been with the SPB for five years and I thought I knew... I thought that there wasn't going to be anything here much beyond the kinds of things I'd encountered before. I had no idea... and it almost cost Rad... Zelenka his life."
They'd come to the lift now and Elizabeth laid her hand on Rodney's shoulder as they stepped on and began their descent.
"Don't make the mistake of thinking that you were the only one who underestimated the magnitude of what we would find here," she said. "Nor imagine that you're the only one who feels a bit in over their head at times. Carson tells me that there are mornings here he's afraid to get out of bed... but then there are also the moments when he's incredibly brave, so it all evens out."
Exiting the lift two floors down, Rodney and Elizabeth crossed from the central tower to the infirmary and residential tower by way of an arching pedestrian bridge, whose wide windows looked out across the very center of the city. Beams of light continued to dance all around them, and once he caught a glimpse of the orlub, glinting gold as it swooped and darted among the lights, but it seemed to Rodney that perhaps the wraith were thinning out.
They both got told to sit and wait when they reached the infirmary, which was to be expected but which still made Rodney chafe. Radek had nearly died; he was still seriously injured and in pain and Rodney wanted to be with him. The intensity of this desire was troubling in itself, and was yet another sign of something that Rodney was not entirely ready to face yet, much less voice, but when he saw Jeannie come rushing to his side a few moments after he arrived, he knew that one or more moment of truth was likely at hand.
"Meridith!" she cried, missing, as always, Rodney's wince. "Are you all right? What's happened?"
"I'm... I'm just here to, um, see about Radek," Rodney said, pointing vaguely toward where Beckett had taken him. "He was hurt... kinda badly, down in the power room, and I ah, didn't need to be anywhere else and just... just wanted to make sure he was okay."
"Oh!" Jeannie said. "I saw him with Dr Beckett, but I didn't get a close look. What happened to him?"
Rodney started to think about how to tell her, and whether to explain to her about Radek's heart, which really wasn't his secret to share, but Jeannie was his sister and Radek was... maybe something like family too... Fortunately, Elizabeth, ever the diplomat, stepped in.
"Dr Zelenka was electrocuted," she said, "and is suffering mainly from shock and some serious burns, I think. I'm pretty sure he'll be all right, but he's likely in a great deal of pain just now."
"Oh, well, if it's burns he's in luck," Jeannie said, smiling inexplicably.
"How's that?" Rodney glowered.
"Well, now that the city's fully powered, there's a few healing devices here, that Peter and I have been working on translating the manuals for," she explained. "One of them looks like it will be perfect for healing burns and the like. Maybe I should go and remind Dr Beckett about it."
"Really?" Rodney said, grateful and hopeful at the same time and his mind reeled once again at the totality of what this city might have to offer them.
"That does sound perfect," Dr Weir said. "I don't think Carson would mind being reminded, if it hasn't crossed his mind yet."
As it turned out, it had, for Carson called out just then for Jeannie to go and get the device, and Rodney and Elizabeth were left to wait again. Too anxious to sit any longer, Rodney left the infirmary to cross the corridor and step out onto the balcony there. This side of the tower faced the Athosian settlement and the long view of the subterranean sea, with the mirror array off to his right. The Daedalus was crossing in front of it just now, her great chandelier throwing light onto some of the mirrors there, which in turn cast it in random beams across the cavern.
A host of light beams still emanated from Atlantis herself, playing across the vast spaces over the city and the sea, and occasionally catching on the orlub -a glittering star that flitted here and there in pursuit of its prey. The wraith seemed to be in full out retreat, and most of them had turned back already. More than a few stragglers and die-hards remained, but Lorne in the orlub and Sheppard's light beams were seeking them out with great success. Free to roam the cavern air space at will now, the Daedalus was cutting down occasional pockets cowering in shadowed corners here and there, but Rodney had been hearing her guns fire less and less often. Slowly the realization began to dawn on Rodney that victory might truly be at hand.
"I think maybe we've won," he said as Elizabeth came to join him a little while later. She stood silently and watched just what he'd been watching for the last ten minutes or so, only with even fewer wraith, and a slow smile began to form on her face.
"You know, I think you may be right," she said, wonder coloring her words. "And I have some good news for you too. Carson says you can go see Radek now."
Rodney thanked her and turned to go immediately, but a gentle hand on his had him pausing at the threshold.
"Rodney, it's been... delightful to see what good friends the two of you have become," Elizabeth said, "but... forgive me if I'm mistaken, but it seems to me that there may now be... something more between you?"
Rodney couldn't quite bring himself to meet Elizabeth's eyes, for all that there was nothing but kindness and sympathy there. "Something... something like that, yeah," he said, staring into the distance over her shoulder.
"Don't ever be ashamed of love, Rodney," Elizabeth said softly, taking his hand and squeezing it briefly. "No matter who it's with."
"Right," Rodney said, meeting her gaze for a second, at last. "Thanks." Then he fled, back to the infirmary and his... lover's side.
***
Radek ached, but not nearly so badly as before, and Carson hadn't even given him any laudanum yet. Rather, he'd been the beneficiary of yet another of the Ancient Ones' miraculous devices, and the burns on his chest and back, which ought to have been agonizing, had been healed -nearly completely. His muscles still pained him from the aftermath of the powerful electrical shock his body had endured, but that was nothing to what he'd been feeling only a short while ago. Carson had told him that he could have laudanum if he wanted it, but now Radek was thinking that he might not.
"Dr McKay's been fairly chafing at the bit to see you," Carson said now as he put away the healing device he'd just used on Radek. "Shall I send him in, or would you rather have a bit more peace and quiet just now?"
"No," Radek said with a small smile. "I would like to see him. Please send him."
Radek knew how frantic he'd be if their positions had been reversed and, irrationally, Radek wanted to see that Rodney was alright as well. He wanted to see that Rodney wasn't worried any more, and to comfort him, as much as he could. Radek thought that he might even be ready to admit to himself how much Rodney McKay had come to mean to him, in spite of how much he'd tried to hold himself back.
The events of the last twenty four hours or so had kept him in a state of crisis, leaping from one looming disaster to the next, and now that things seemed to be slowing down, he had the time to consider what it all might mean. Naturally, his memory brought him back to the moment that they'd seen Elizabeth rescued and he and Rodney had suddenly found themselves in each others' arms. Even in retrospect, Radek could not find it in himself to regret that moment, nor the companionable drunk the two of them had shared previously, on the night of the celebration.
Radek had found himself opening up to the prickly scientist in a way he hadn't since his time with Nikola, and he thought that maybe something similar was true for Rodney. Perhaps it was because of the fact that both of them were wary of becoming too close to anyone, that their mutual distancing techniques had had the unintended effect of making them both more comfortable with each other. There was grand irony in that, Radek smiled to himself, and possibly a lesson as well.
Scientists, more than any other profession, it was said, must be able to learn from their mistakes, and Radek was, perhaps, ready to admit that his notion of sparing himself the pitfalls of human affection and intimacy had been a big one. There was risk, of course, as there must be in all things worth doing, but the greater risk was the dull and lonely life that that he'd tried to content himself with before.
He'd feared for his heart, in those days -that it would not be physically strong enough to endure an adventure such as this, nor strong enough emotionally, to endure love again- and he had been disprooven in both cases. Today he had seen that his heart could endure a terrible physical injury, with the Ancient Ones' devices to repair the fragile, mechanical device that supported it. Would the city of the Ancient Ones support his and Rodney's newly awakening feelings as well? Today, Radek thought, he had reason to hope that it might.
Raising his eyes to meet Rodney's as the man came into his room, Radek let his feelings show as well as he might, though it was difficult to read the response on Rodney's face without his glasses.
"Rodney, miláčku!" he said, reaching out a hand for him to take and calling him by the word he had held back from speaking until the moment he'd thought himself close to death -beloved.
"Radek?" Rodney said, his voice showing Radek's ears the things his eyes could not see, mainly worry and anxiety, but also the beginnings of a profound relief. "Are you okay? How are you feeling? Did Beckett use that Ancient One thing on you? Did it work okay? Are you sure it's not dangerous?"
"Rodney," Radek said again, catching one of the nervously flailing hands and pulling him close. "I am well. The healing device Carson used seems to have been most remarkably effective, and I do not think it will cause me any ill effects. You have saved my life, Rodney, so now please come sit and gloat as you should."
Rodney hesitated, making a half-hearted attempt to get his hand back from Radek, then he seemed to deflate a bit and collapsed in a chair at the side of the bed, hand still firmly clutched in Radek's.
"You... you're really okay?" Rodney asked again, sounding a little fearful still. "I mean, I thought... you thought so too... that you were dying, and..."
"And you were quite clever," Radek stepped in for him. "Remembering about Sheppard's watch; I do not think that more than a few people even knew about it."
"I just couldn't..." Rodney said quietly, holding on tightly to the hand he'd tried to free himself from a moment ago. "I couldn't let you... couldn't give up..."
"Neither could Nikola," Radek said. "And I do not think, if it had been the other way around, that I could have either... miláčku."
Rodney looked at him curiously at his second use of the foreign word in so many minutes. "What does that mean, 'mee-lach-koo'?" he asked.
For an answer, Radek pulled Rodney's hand closer still, to rest over his own wounded heart and hold it there in both his hands. "Miláčku," Radek said, squeezing his hands around Rodney's.
"Oh," Rodney said, eyes so wide now that even without his glasses Radek could see the blue of them. "Really?"
"Yes, really, Rodney," Radek said, smiling fondly. Rodney looked down in response, then back up, focusing on where his hand lay over Radek's fragile heart.
"I guess, maybe," he began haltingly. "I guess... I could... feel something like the same way." Radek beamed and lifted Rodney's hand to his lips and kiss it. As imperfect as his vision was, Radek's ability to see colors, like the deep, penetrating blue of Rodney's eyes, was entirely unimpaired. Gazing up into those eyes was like falling into Rodney's mind and Radek could too easily get lost there, even without his glasses. It was the soft sound of someone's throat being cleared that pulled them from their reverie.
"Jeannie!" Rodney startled, conveniently identifying the blurry figure standing in the doorway. Radek tensed at first, not at all sure how Rodney's formerly religious sister might react to the sight to two men in such an intimate pose.
"Um, sorry to interrupt," she said a little awkwardly, but not sounding particularly disapproving, "but Sheppard is here and would like to visit for a minute, and Elizabeth wants to see you, Mer, as soon as you're free here."
"You should go and talk to Elizabeth, Rodney," Radek said, patting Rodney's hand before releasing it. "I will visit very briefly with Sheppard and then I will sleep for many hours, I think. Only... does anyone know where are my glasses?"
"I'm not sure," Rodney answered, "but I'm afraid they're probably still in the power room, and I don't think it's ever going to be safe to go in there again."
"Probably also they are beyond repair as well," Radek said with a frown. "Fortunately, I have a spare pair, but they are in my quarters on the Daedalus."
"I'm sure someone can bring them for you," Jeannie said. "I'll ask around."
"Thank you," Radek said, then turned back to Rodney who'd stood up from the chair at Radek's bedside.
"Come back when I have rested," Radek said to him, "and, assuming I am able to see by then, we can go and see what newly powered city has to show us, yes?"
"Um, yeah," Rodney said, and then, with a short, furtive glance at his sister, leaned over to place a chaste but tender kiss on his lips. Radek still couldn't see her face, but when Rodney came to step past his sister at the doorway, Radek saw her put a sisterly arm around Rodney's waist. That was all fine then, he thought, and next John Sheppard was stepping into the room, his posture relaxed and his smile nearly wide enough for Radek to see clearly.
"Glad to see you looking better," the pilot said. "I'm really glad Rodney thought of putting you in the chair, and that it worked; the world needs you to build more of those amazing flying machines!"
"I am also very glad indeed, that Rodney thought to use the chair to help me," Radek said. "And I am grateful to you, for your help. It could not have worked without you. As for my flying machine, I am glad you find it satisfactory. Is it still out flying?"
"Lorne's bring her in now," Sheppard said with another grin. "The Daedalus and the air launch are still out there, chasing the wraith back to their nests, but I'd say that the battle is pretty much won, for now."
"That is very good to hear," Radek said, feeling something deep inside him finally relax. "The Star's Heart has truly saved the day for all of us."
"The Star's Heart and you guys," Sheppard corrected. "After the damage Ford did to the power room, we'd have been in a pretty hopeless situation if we hadn't had you and McKay to put it to rights. Not to mention all the stuff you figured out about the light beam weapon."
"I am happy I was able to contribute something," Radek said, a little uncomfortable with Sheppard's accolades, "but you must remember that it was more than just Rodney and I. Please do not forget Drs Grodin and Gaul and Abrams, and the other science staffs, and also do not overlook how grateful we scientists are, for the soldiers and airmen who risked and also sacrificed their lives to protect us."
"Oh, definitely," Sheppard said. "There's kudos a-plenty to go around, and I'll be delivering them personally to the other scientists as well as my men, rest assured."
"That is good to hear," Radek said, stifling a yawn. "I would be pleased if you would deliver my thanks to your men as well. I would ordinarily prefer to see to it personally, but for the moment..." Radek trailed off, gesturing to his surroundings and his bandaged chest.
"No problem, doc," Sheppard said with a grin. "I ought to hit the sack soon myself, but I'm working off something of a battle high yet. I'll make the rounds, convey your appreciation and mine, and maybe then I'll be ready to actually sleep. In the mean time, I can see you're ready for some shut-eye yourself."
"That I am," Radek said, smiling even as he covered his mouth to hide a yawn that would not be stifled. "Thank you for your news, Captain Sheppard, and I wish you a good night's sleep, whenever you manage to get it." Radek thought he heard Sheppard wish him 'sweet dreams' as he left, but his long denied fatigue had him in its grip at last, and it all faded into the background.
***
And now... the last loose ends.
Author: Taylor Dancinghands -taylor@tdancinghands.com
Characters: McKay, Sheppard, Beckett, Zelenka, Weir, Teyla, Ronon, (nun!)Jeannie McKay, Grodin, Lorne, Caldwell, among others.
Pairings: Zelenka/McKay, Sheppard/Lorne past and Sheppard/Lorne/Teyla, Beckett/Weir, Caldwell/Jeannie McKay romance background
Category: slash, pre-slash, Steampunk AU, romance, action/adventure
Spoilers: none
Warnings: m/m relationships
Rating: Teen
Summary:In a bygone future that never was, the US Special Projects Bureau's Airship Daedalus carries an expedition into the Hollow Earth to discover the fabled lost city of Atlantis...
(An index for the whole story to-date can be found here.)
Chapter 11, pt 2
***
Rodney knew when the sun left the mirror array, as the lights in the corridors outside the small room where they worked all came on. The lights inside the power room had all been thoroughly destroyed, however, and so Rodney and Radek continued to work by the light of one of his mantle lanterns. Without any window to the outside, they had no idea of the passage of time, nor of the course of the battle -whose advent they had to deduce from the distant sound of the Daedalus' cannon fire, and from the shock to the city they all felt, when the first wraith loosened boulder struck it.
Even that sobering reminder of how desperate of their situation was did not cause Rodney and Radek to pause in their work any more than to exchange worried glances. The cold dinners that had been brought down to them a little while earlier still sat on a near by counter, a few bites taken from each, but otherwise neglected. They would eat when they had accomplished their goal.
They were getting close. Rodney had sent Gaul and the other scientists away an hour ago, as only the most exacting work remained, and he and Zelenka were the only ones he trusted to do it right. He wished profoundly that they had more time, for it was clear that they were working with an extremely powerful energy source, and any mistake could have disastrous consequences, for them and the city.
"Jéžiši!" Radek cried as they both staggered, feeling the city shudder under another onslaught of boulders. Rodney might wish for more time, but it was clear that they were not going to get it. Fitting what he hoped was the last connector in place, Rodney closed the access panel he'd been working on and turned to Radek, seeing him do the same.
"Oh my god, are you done?" Rodney asked, not sure whether he was hoping for or dreading Radek's affirmative answer.
"Doufám že ano," Radek muttered then, looking up and realizing that Rodney hadn't understood, said, "I hope so."
"There's a ringing endorsement," Rodney muttered to himself, aware that he was no more confident of his own work. "Well then, you'd better stand back," he said more loudly as he opened the case holding the Star's Heart with hands he refused to admit were shaking.
Reverently, he lifted the artifact from its case and placed it in the similarly shaped indentation on the console. It went only part way in at first, and Rodney waited to see if it would slide further in on its own, but nothing happened.
"Maybe..." Zelenka suggested hesitantly. "Maybe you should... push down a little?" He gestured pushing the Star's Heart into the console, then shrugged.
Uncertain, Rodney glanced between Zelenka and the console, waited another moment, then decided to give it a try. He didn't push hard, but it wasn't needed. At his first firm nudge he felt something engage, and the Star's Heart began to lower itself into the console.
"Yes!" Rodney shouted, pumping his fist into the air, and then he stood back too, waiting to see what would happen. There was something like a breathless pause, and then the whole room -perhaps the whole city, Rodney considered- began to vibrate, ever so slightly. A low, sub-bass hum accompanied the vibration, and it seemed to be growing. Rodney wondered if he and Radek shouldn't just get the heck out of that room, when the vibrating hum came to a crescendo, and suddenly the corridors outside weren't just lit, they blazed with light.
"Whoa!" said Ronon, still standing guard just outside the door with Miller. "You guys do that?"
"Um," said Rodney, noticing a growing burning smell in the power room. "I think so. Radek, maybe we should..."
He was interrupted by a cascade of sparks erupting from a panel on the side of the console (where he'd been working), and a moment later, more burst from the wall behind Radek. Wide eyed, Zelenka ducked and made to follow Rodney's aborted suggestion to head for the door. Unfortunately, it was already too late.
Outside in the corridor the lights only flickered slightly, but within the power room, sparks were flying everywhere. Rodney only escaped by throwing himself on the floor, and even as he did so he saw, out of the corner of his eye, a massive electrical arc, leaping from the main console to the panel behind Radek, passing through the Czech engineer as it did so.
Rodney heard Radek's agonized cry, even as he tumbled to safety just beyond the threshold. When he looked back into the power room he saw Radek's prone body, unmoving as more panels sparked all around him. Rodney didn't stop to think, much (for every electrical engineer knows to proceed cautiously when high current may be involved) and for that reason he pulled his jacket sleeve over his hands before he reached back into the room to grab Radek and drag him out into the corridor.
"Careful Doc," Miller shouted uselessly even as Rodney and Radek reached safety, but Rodney hardly heard him. Radek wasn't moving, or speaking, and there was a terrible scorch mark over his chest, right over his heart. "Oh, god, oh god, oh god," Rodney muttered, opening the still smoldering vest and shirt with trembling hands to see the very damage that he feared the most.
"Still breathing," said Ronon, who Rodney now realized had come to kneel on Radek's other side. "What the hell is... is that his heart?"
"No, no, no... It's not his heart, it just helps his heart," Rodney babbled, struggling to stave of panic. "His heart is weak, because it was injured when he was younger... with an electric shock... Oh god I don't know if I can fix this..."
"Looks just like the kind of stuff you guys fix all the time," Ronon said, which should have pleased Rodney no end to hear, but did nothing to mitigate the terrible feeling of helplessness growing in his gut. Then he felt Radek's fingers tighten in his. His eyes fluttered open and he coughed feebly, and Rodney's own heat leapt.
"Rodney?" Radek whispered.
"Um..." Rodney said. "You... didn't happen to pack any spare parts with you, did you? I mean, for your, ah, heart... thing."
"Bohužel ne," Radek said with a pained attempt at a smile, and though Rodney didn't understand the words, the meaning was clear. Radek tried to raise his head to see himself, and Rodney quickly took of his jacket, rolled it and placed it under Radek's head.
"Oh... dear. That does not look good," he said, letting his head fall back to the make-shift pillow -his eyes drifting closed.
"It's... it looks completely fused," Rodney said, working hard to keep his voice steady. "I'm sure I could rebuild it, or build another if I had the plans... and the time..."
"But you do not," Radek said sadly and Rodney felt his throat constrict. Radek's hand moved to cover his, and squeezed it gently.
"You know, Rodney, and I know, that I have been living on borrowed time, these last sixteen years," he said softly. "It is not so... unexpected."
"No, no, no, no, you do not get to gracefully bow out now!" Rodney choked out. "We have not even begun to bring the combined power of our intellect to bear on the problems of the world, much less this city!"
Radek only tipped his head to meet Rodney's eyes with his own, pale blue and, for once, not obscured behind his glasses -which lay somewhere on the power room floor. "Rodney," he sighed, voice barely audible. "Miláčku... I am very sorry..."
Radek's eyes drifted closed, his hand falling still on Rodney's, and Rodney felt something like a fist of sheer terror seize his heart.
"Radek!" he cried, but he had slipped into unconsciousness, possibly for the final time.
No, no, no; no panicking, not now, Rodney told himself sternly. Radek needs your brains functioning at top capacity, not dithering like a child's. Think!!
"Maybe I should send for the doc," Miller suggested, to which Rodney responded with impatient scorn.
"Beckett can no more fix him than I can cure your dandruff," Rodney snapped. "He needs an engineer, not a voodoo practitioner... He needs an engineer who can fix a highly complex, delicately calibrated device, without the plans and in less than twenty..." Rodney glanced over at Radek, taking in his shallow, panting breaths, his pale skin and the slight bluish hue to his lips and recalculated. "Okay, maybe more like ten minutes."
"I dunno," said Ronon. "Sounds more like magic than science to me. But then, this city's full of stuff that you guys say is science, but looks like magic to me."
"Yes, well," Rodney said, gingerly wiping some of the scorch marks off the cracked crystal at the center of the fatally damaged device embedded in Radek's chest. "It's not uncommon for the uninitiated to mistake something for magic when it's actually just science that you just don't understa..." He trailed off -struck, suddenly, with inspiration.
"Ronon, can you carry him?" Rodney asked, standing abruptly.
"Sure," said Ronon. "Where to?"
"To the chair room," Rodney answered, holding in his mind the image of Sheppard's pocket watch just after he'd rescued Rodney on the deck of the Daedalus -crystal smashed and case hopelessly crushed- and later, after his first encounter with the chair, looking as perfect as the day it had been made. Like magic, he remembered thinking, in spite of how well he knew better.
"We're going to take Zelenka to the chair room," Rodney reiterated. "You," he pointed at Miller, "stay here, and don't let anyone in there." He indicated the power room, where the sparking and electrical arcs had subsided for now, but Rodney had the feeling that the Star's Heart was home for good.
Anxiously aware of every passing second, Rodney followed Ronon and Radek to the lift and then crowded in with them. Upon arriving on the chair room level, he had eyes only for the chair in the center of the room, ignoring the frankly astonishing spectacle of dancing light outside. Impatient with Sheppard's slow response, Rodney was nearly ready to haul the man bodily out of the chair when he finally wakened to his immediate surroundings and took in the vision of Ronon holding Radek's prone form.
"What the...?" he exclaimed, looking a bit dazed but pulling himself together quickly. "Zelenka! What the hell happened?"
"Electrical shock," Rodney answered curtly. "He needs the chair to fix him. Now!"
Sheppard started to move, but slowly, looking confused. "Ah... McKay, the chair fixes mechanical things -as far as we know," he said. "Zelenka..."
"Needs a mechanical repair," Rodney interrupted, too impatient to explain. He waved Ronon over so that Sheppard could see the mess of fused parts in Radek's chest and when he did his eyes widened with astonishment.
"Is that... is that his heart?" Sheppard exclaimed, still not moving out of the chair quickly enough.
"No, it's his liver!" Rodney snapped. "You can wait to hear a complete explanation at his eulogy or you can get your ass out of that chair and let me save his life!"
To his credit, Sheppard moved quickly once he had the critical facts and Ronon laid the unconscious scientist gently in the chair. The control interfaces on the arms had retracted the moment Sheppard had stepped away, and now it lay quiescent with Radek sitting in it. Nothing, Rodney saw with anxious dread, was happening.
"Oh god, it's because he doesn't have the touch," he said, wringing his hands. "It's not going to work..."
"Hang on a second," Sheppard said, crouching beside the chair. He stretched out one arm and laid it on the chair's arm rest and immediately something changed. The chair reclined, as it had under Sheppard, and a moment later a web of electrical tendrils emerged from the chair's surface began to creep over Radek's body. They converged over his heart almost immediately, masking it in a luminous net of electricity.
Rodney held his breath, suspended between hope and terror when Radek's body began to twitch and shudder under the high voltage onslaught, but after less than a minute the arcs and charges began to subside. With the retreat of the last spark, Rodney heard Radek Zelenka draw a long, deep breath and, hearing that sound, found that he could release his own. Weak in the knees with relief, Rodney watched Radek's eyes blink open, pupils focused and aware as he glanced around him.
"What... what happened?" he asked and Rodney could have wept to hear him. Stumbling forward to crouch beside the chair, Rodney took Radek's hand, half aware that any number of people were watching, and well beyond caring.
"You... you were shocked," Rodney said. "Down in the power room. Do you remember?"
Radek blinked again, then frowned in thought and his eyes widened in alarm.
"Sakra!," he said, trying to look down at his own chest. "Můj srdcový pomocník..."
Casting his own eyes down to the device, Rodney noticed first that the flesh around Radek's heart assistant device was still reddened and even scorched in places and he realized that his friend was probably in shock or something like it at the moment. The marvelously complex device that provided the strength his heart no longer had, however, was in perfect condition and he could hear its faithful clockwork motion, running just as it should in Radek's chest.
"We fixed it," Rodney said, voice steeped with wonder at the fact. "Or rather, the chair did -I really have no idea how."
"You fixed it..." Radek repeated, dazedly looking down at himself. He gave a long slow blink at what he saw.
"Tak..." he said after a long moment, relaxing back in the chair. "It would seem that I am given yet more time to borrow... at some cost. Ow. Everything hurts."
As if on cue, it was at this very moment that Dr Beckett appeared, accompanied by Elizabeth, two stretcher bearers and Peter Grodin -who had probably been the one to go fetch him.
Now Rodney found himself shunted aside as Beckett attended to Radek and Rodney had the sudden realization that if he didn't sit down very soon he was going to fall down. He was profoundly grateful, therefore, to find both Sheppard and Dr Weir at his side, guiding him to sit on the steps at the base of the chair and not pestering him with questions, but just sitting with him. They helped him stand when Beckett had moved Radek to the stretcher and the bearers began to carry him to the infirmary, knowing without asking that Rodney needed to follow.
Sheppard returned to the chair once Radek was out of it, leaving Elizabeth to accompany Rodney to the infirmary, and Rodney did pause as they left the chair room, to watch the lights outside leap into action again at Sheppard's unspoken command.
"We have the two of you to thank for that, you know," Elizabeth pointed out. "We'd most likely be fighting the wraith in the very corridors of the city now, if it weren't for you and Dr Zelenka."
These were the very sorts of words Rodney tended to expect for the sort of work he did, and he normally tended to accept them as his due, but at the moment all he felt was slightly abashed.
"Well, it's what we came here to do," he said with a shrug. "Fix stuff, I mean." Rodney's eyes moved from the battle outside to take in the rest of the city around him, reminded again of its vastness and complexity, and how completely beyond his understanding most of it was.
"This place, though," he said. "It's so far beyond anything I've ever seen before, or even heard of. I've been with the SPB for five years and I thought I knew... I thought that there wasn't going to be anything here much beyond the kinds of things I'd encountered before. I had no idea... and it almost cost Rad... Zelenka his life."
They'd come to the lift now and Elizabeth laid her hand on Rodney's shoulder as they stepped on and began their descent.
"Don't make the mistake of thinking that you were the only one who underestimated the magnitude of what we would find here," she said. "Nor imagine that you're the only one who feels a bit in over their head at times. Carson tells me that there are mornings here he's afraid to get out of bed... but then there are also the moments when he's incredibly brave, so it all evens out."
Exiting the lift two floors down, Rodney and Elizabeth crossed from the central tower to the infirmary and residential tower by way of an arching pedestrian bridge, whose wide windows looked out across the very center of the city. Beams of light continued to dance all around them, and once he caught a glimpse of the orlub, glinting gold as it swooped and darted among the lights, but it seemed to Rodney that perhaps the wraith were thinning out.
They both got told to sit and wait when they reached the infirmary, which was to be expected but which still made Rodney chafe. Radek had nearly died; he was still seriously injured and in pain and Rodney wanted to be with him. The intensity of this desire was troubling in itself, and was yet another sign of something that Rodney was not entirely ready to face yet, much less voice, but when he saw Jeannie come rushing to his side a few moments after he arrived, he knew that one or more moment of truth was likely at hand.
"Meridith!" she cried, missing, as always, Rodney's wince. "Are you all right? What's happened?"
"I'm... I'm just here to, um, see about Radek," Rodney said, pointing vaguely toward where Beckett had taken him. "He was hurt... kinda badly, down in the power room, and I ah, didn't need to be anywhere else and just... just wanted to make sure he was okay."
"Oh!" Jeannie said. "I saw him with Dr Beckett, but I didn't get a close look. What happened to him?"
Rodney started to think about how to tell her, and whether to explain to her about Radek's heart, which really wasn't his secret to share, but Jeannie was his sister and Radek was... maybe something like family too... Fortunately, Elizabeth, ever the diplomat, stepped in.
"Dr Zelenka was electrocuted," she said, "and is suffering mainly from shock and some serious burns, I think. I'm pretty sure he'll be all right, but he's likely in a great deal of pain just now."
"Oh, well, if it's burns he's in luck," Jeannie said, smiling inexplicably.
"How's that?" Rodney glowered.
"Well, now that the city's fully powered, there's a few healing devices here, that Peter and I have been working on translating the manuals for," she explained. "One of them looks like it will be perfect for healing burns and the like. Maybe I should go and remind Dr Beckett about it."
"Really?" Rodney said, grateful and hopeful at the same time and his mind reeled once again at the totality of what this city might have to offer them.
"That does sound perfect," Dr Weir said. "I don't think Carson would mind being reminded, if it hasn't crossed his mind yet."
As it turned out, it had, for Carson called out just then for Jeannie to go and get the device, and Rodney and Elizabeth were left to wait again. Too anxious to sit any longer, Rodney left the infirmary to cross the corridor and step out onto the balcony there. This side of the tower faced the Athosian settlement and the long view of the subterranean sea, with the mirror array off to his right. The Daedalus was crossing in front of it just now, her great chandelier throwing light onto some of the mirrors there, which in turn cast it in random beams across the cavern.
A host of light beams still emanated from Atlantis herself, playing across the vast spaces over the city and the sea, and occasionally catching on the orlub -a glittering star that flitted here and there in pursuit of its prey. The wraith seemed to be in full out retreat, and most of them had turned back already. More than a few stragglers and die-hards remained, but Lorne in the orlub and Sheppard's light beams were seeking them out with great success. Free to roam the cavern air space at will now, the Daedalus was cutting down occasional pockets cowering in shadowed corners here and there, but Rodney had been hearing her guns fire less and less often. Slowly the realization began to dawn on Rodney that victory might truly be at hand.
"I think maybe we've won," he said as Elizabeth came to join him a little while later. She stood silently and watched just what he'd been watching for the last ten minutes or so, only with even fewer wraith, and a slow smile began to form on her face.
"You know, I think you may be right," she said, wonder coloring her words. "And I have some good news for you too. Carson says you can go see Radek now."
Rodney thanked her and turned to go immediately, but a gentle hand on his had him pausing at the threshold.
"Rodney, it's been... delightful to see what good friends the two of you have become," Elizabeth said, "but... forgive me if I'm mistaken, but it seems to me that there may now be... something more between you?"
Rodney couldn't quite bring himself to meet Elizabeth's eyes, for all that there was nothing but kindness and sympathy there. "Something... something like that, yeah," he said, staring into the distance over her shoulder.
"Don't ever be ashamed of love, Rodney," Elizabeth said softly, taking his hand and squeezing it briefly. "No matter who it's with."
"Right," Rodney said, meeting her gaze for a second, at last. "Thanks." Then he fled, back to the infirmary and his... lover's side.
***
Radek ached, but not nearly so badly as before, and Carson hadn't even given him any laudanum yet. Rather, he'd been the beneficiary of yet another of the Ancient Ones' miraculous devices, and the burns on his chest and back, which ought to have been agonizing, had been healed -nearly completely. His muscles still pained him from the aftermath of the powerful electrical shock his body had endured, but that was nothing to what he'd been feeling only a short while ago. Carson had told him that he could have laudanum if he wanted it, but now Radek was thinking that he might not.
"Dr McKay's been fairly chafing at the bit to see you," Carson said now as he put away the healing device he'd just used on Radek. "Shall I send him in, or would you rather have a bit more peace and quiet just now?"
"No," Radek said with a small smile. "I would like to see him. Please send him."
Radek knew how frantic he'd be if their positions had been reversed and, irrationally, Radek wanted to see that Rodney was alright as well. He wanted to see that Rodney wasn't worried any more, and to comfort him, as much as he could. Radek thought that he might even be ready to admit to himself how much Rodney McKay had come to mean to him, in spite of how much he'd tried to hold himself back.
The events of the last twenty four hours or so had kept him in a state of crisis, leaping from one looming disaster to the next, and now that things seemed to be slowing down, he had the time to consider what it all might mean. Naturally, his memory brought him back to the moment that they'd seen Elizabeth rescued and he and Rodney had suddenly found themselves in each others' arms. Even in retrospect, Radek could not find it in himself to regret that moment, nor the companionable drunk the two of them had shared previously, on the night of the celebration.
Radek had found himself opening up to the prickly scientist in a way he hadn't since his time with Nikola, and he thought that maybe something similar was true for Rodney. Perhaps it was because of the fact that both of them were wary of becoming too close to anyone, that their mutual distancing techniques had had the unintended effect of making them both more comfortable with each other. There was grand irony in that, Radek smiled to himself, and possibly a lesson as well.
Scientists, more than any other profession, it was said, must be able to learn from their mistakes, and Radek was, perhaps, ready to admit that his notion of sparing himself the pitfalls of human affection and intimacy had been a big one. There was risk, of course, as there must be in all things worth doing, but the greater risk was the dull and lonely life that that he'd tried to content himself with before.
He'd feared for his heart, in those days -that it would not be physically strong enough to endure an adventure such as this, nor strong enough emotionally, to endure love again- and he had been disprooven in both cases. Today he had seen that his heart could endure a terrible physical injury, with the Ancient Ones' devices to repair the fragile, mechanical device that supported it. Would the city of the Ancient Ones support his and Rodney's newly awakening feelings as well? Today, Radek thought, he had reason to hope that it might.
Raising his eyes to meet Rodney's as the man came into his room, Radek let his feelings show as well as he might, though it was difficult to read the response on Rodney's face without his glasses.
"Rodney, miláčku!" he said, reaching out a hand for him to take and calling him by the word he had held back from speaking until the moment he'd thought himself close to death -beloved.
"Radek?" Rodney said, his voice showing Radek's ears the things his eyes could not see, mainly worry and anxiety, but also the beginnings of a profound relief. "Are you okay? How are you feeling? Did Beckett use that Ancient One thing on you? Did it work okay? Are you sure it's not dangerous?"
"Rodney," Radek said again, catching one of the nervously flailing hands and pulling him close. "I am well. The healing device Carson used seems to have been most remarkably effective, and I do not think it will cause me any ill effects. You have saved my life, Rodney, so now please come sit and gloat as you should."
Rodney hesitated, making a half-hearted attempt to get his hand back from Radek, then he seemed to deflate a bit and collapsed in a chair at the side of the bed, hand still firmly clutched in Radek's.
"You... you're really okay?" Rodney asked again, sounding a little fearful still. "I mean, I thought... you thought so too... that you were dying, and..."
"And you were quite clever," Radek stepped in for him. "Remembering about Sheppard's watch; I do not think that more than a few people even knew about it."
"I just couldn't..." Rodney said quietly, holding on tightly to the hand he'd tried to free himself from a moment ago. "I couldn't let you... couldn't give up..."
"Neither could Nikola," Radek said. "And I do not think, if it had been the other way around, that I could have either... miláčku."
Rodney looked at him curiously at his second use of the foreign word in so many minutes. "What does that mean, 'mee-lach-koo'?" he asked.
For an answer, Radek pulled Rodney's hand closer still, to rest over his own wounded heart and hold it there in both his hands. "Miláčku," Radek said, squeezing his hands around Rodney's.
"Oh," Rodney said, eyes so wide now that even without his glasses Radek could see the blue of them. "Really?"
"Yes, really, Rodney," Radek said, smiling fondly. Rodney looked down in response, then back up, focusing on where his hand lay over Radek's fragile heart.
"I guess, maybe," he began haltingly. "I guess... I could... feel something like the same way." Radek beamed and lifted Rodney's hand to his lips and kiss it. As imperfect as his vision was, Radek's ability to see colors, like the deep, penetrating blue of Rodney's eyes, was entirely unimpaired. Gazing up into those eyes was like falling into Rodney's mind and Radek could too easily get lost there, even without his glasses. It was the soft sound of someone's throat being cleared that pulled them from their reverie.
"Jeannie!" Rodney startled, conveniently identifying the blurry figure standing in the doorway. Radek tensed at first, not at all sure how Rodney's formerly religious sister might react to the sight to two men in such an intimate pose.
"Um, sorry to interrupt," she said a little awkwardly, but not sounding particularly disapproving, "but Sheppard is here and would like to visit for a minute, and Elizabeth wants to see you, Mer, as soon as you're free here."
"You should go and talk to Elizabeth, Rodney," Radek said, patting Rodney's hand before releasing it. "I will visit very briefly with Sheppard and then I will sleep for many hours, I think. Only... does anyone know where are my glasses?"
"I'm not sure," Rodney answered, "but I'm afraid they're probably still in the power room, and I don't think it's ever going to be safe to go in there again."
"Probably also they are beyond repair as well," Radek said with a frown. "Fortunately, I have a spare pair, but they are in my quarters on the Daedalus."
"I'm sure someone can bring them for you," Jeannie said. "I'll ask around."
"Thank you," Radek said, then turned back to Rodney who'd stood up from the chair at Radek's bedside.
"Come back when I have rested," Radek said to him, "and, assuming I am able to see by then, we can go and see what newly powered city has to show us, yes?"
"Um, yeah," Rodney said, and then, with a short, furtive glance at his sister, leaned over to place a chaste but tender kiss on his lips. Radek still couldn't see her face, but when Rodney came to step past his sister at the doorway, Radek saw her put a sisterly arm around Rodney's waist. That was all fine then, he thought, and next John Sheppard was stepping into the room, his posture relaxed and his smile nearly wide enough for Radek to see clearly.
"Glad to see you looking better," the pilot said. "I'm really glad Rodney thought of putting you in the chair, and that it worked; the world needs you to build more of those amazing flying machines!"
"I am also very glad indeed, that Rodney thought to use the chair to help me," Radek said. "And I am grateful to you, for your help. It could not have worked without you. As for my flying machine, I am glad you find it satisfactory. Is it still out flying?"
"Lorne's bring her in now," Sheppard said with another grin. "The Daedalus and the air launch are still out there, chasing the wraith back to their nests, but I'd say that the battle is pretty much won, for now."
"That is very good to hear," Radek said, feeling something deep inside him finally relax. "The Star's Heart has truly saved the day for all of us."
"The Star's Heart and you guys," Sheppard corrected. "After the damage Ford did to the power room, we'd have been in a pretty hopeless situation if we hadn't had you and McKay to put it to rights. Not to mention all the stuff you figured out about the light beam weapon."
"I am happy I was able to contribute something," Radek said, a little uncomfortable with Sheppard's accolades, "but you must remember that it was more than just Rodney and I. Please do not forget Drs Grodin and Gaul and Abrams, and the other science staffs, and also do not overlook how grateful we scientists are, for the soldiers and airmen who risked and also sacrificed their lives to protect us."
"Oh, definitely," Sheppard said. "There's kudos a-plenty to go around, and I'll be delivering them personally to the other scientists as well as my men, rest assured."
"That is good to hear," Radek said, stifling a yawn. "I would be pleased if you would deliver my thanks to your men as well. I would ordinarily prefer to see to it personally, but for the moment..." Radek trailed off, gesturing to his surroundings and his bandaged chest.
"No problem, doc," Sheppard said with a grin. "I ought to hit the sack soon myself, but I'm working off something of a battle high yet. I'll make the rounds, convey your appreciation and mine, and maybe then I'll be ready to actually sleep. In the mean time, I can see you're ready for some shut-eye yourself."
"That I am," Radek said, smiling even as he covered his mouth to hide a yawn that would not be stifled. "Thank you for your news, Captain Sheppard, and I wish you a good night's sleep, whenever you manage to get it." Radek thought he heard Sheppard wish him 'sweet dreams' as he left, but his long denied fatigue had him in its grip at last, and it all faded into the background.
***
And now... the last loose ends.