Malicious Compliance – 2 – Hazel

Reading Time:
21 Minutes

Four:

Just about every person he passed in the hall said hello or asked about the baby, civilian and military alike.  Not even killing upwards of forty Genii had made him as talked about among the expedition members as accidentally having a surprise baby with Ancient tech.

John gritted his teeth and tried his best not to glare at anyone, half wondering how long the content of his meeting with Weir would take to make the rounds.  The news of Eliza’s inexplicable arrival had spread through the city like wildfire and by the next day, everyone knew.

He paused outside his quarters, mentally prodding the city to not open the door just yet.  A few deep breaths did little other than allow him to slightly unclench his fists at his sides.  Deciding he would be standing in the hallway for a ridiculous amount of time if he waited to actually calm down, he let the door open and stepped inside.

McKay looked up from his tablet where he had it precariously propped up by some pillows while he fed the baby from the leather flask that Teyla had presented as the Athosian version of a bottle over breakfast that first morning.

Something must have shown on his face because the man paused in the act of standing and stared back at him with a curious expression.  John took another deep breath and stepped back towards the door though he silently asked the city to lock it for him.  Even so, Rodney nodded down at Eliza as if asking if he wanted to hold her.

Giving a sharp shake of the head, he glanced out the window at the slowly darkening sky.  “Probably not a good idea while I’m this upset,” he admitted.

Looking increasingly worried, Rodney sat back down on the bed but ignored the tablet that had slipped down from its perch when he’d moved.

Wordlessly, McKay finished feeding her, fussed with the thick cloth draped over his shoulder, then positioned her carefully and started to pat her back.  John clenched and unclenched his fists, barely cracking a smile when the tiny little girl let out an impressive burp.  Not even the look on Rodney’s face when he put her on the bed and removed the soiled burping cloth from his shoulder was able to pull a reaction from him.

Instead, while his best friend carried both baby and burp cloth like hazardous material over to the sleeping basket Eliza had been using and disposed of the dirty cloth in the closed hamper, John paced restlessly from one side of the room to the other.  He made sure not to get too close to either of the room’s other occupants in case he caught her attention or interrupted what looked like the start of an evening nap.

She was fast asleep before he risked checking on her.  John cleared his throat as he eyed the leather and cloth doll laying just outside the basket.  “Where did she get a stuffy toy?”

McKay huffed and resettled on the edge of the bed, fussing with his tablet for a moment before just setting it aside.  “Miko brought it over shortly after you left.  Apparently she and Teyla made it or found it or traded for it or something.”  He waved one hand dismissively.

John nodded, remembering that Rodney had mentioned having a meeting scheduled with the head of Information Systems when he’d asked him to watch the baby for the meeting he’d been summoned to that evening.  “The database, right?”

The rough voice and obvious avoidance of whatever was pissing him off earned John a suspicious stare.  He just kept pacing until the other man gave up in a huff and answered the question.

“Yes.  Engineering is still investigating the wind turbines that were mentioned.  They seem to have been severely damaged since they were in areas where the shield failed before the city resurfaced.  Because of that, Miko had been looking for other possible power sources the Ancients might have tried using over the city’s history and she hit pay dirt this afternoon.”  The still dark tablet was waved at him as Sheppard passed the bed on another circuit of the room.

“There’s a platform somewhere on this planet that’s designed to harness geothermal power.  The city was attached to it when they fucked off back to Earth, so obviously Atlantis can power at least some systems that way.  If we can find the platform, get the city over to it, and get the platform itself working, we should be able to use it as another power source.  Between that and the hydro plant we should be able to open a good chunk of the city without using the ZedPM at all.”

John turned and walked back the other way, nodding stiffly.  “That’s good.”

The response earned him a rather derisive short.  “Yes, Sheppard, I did take note of that.”

Before he could start yet another circuit of the room, McKay stood and blocked his path, arms crossed over his chest and eyes narrowed.  “I also took note of your seriously shitty mood and the oh-so subtle attempts to not explain why that is.”

“Look, McKay-”

He was cut off rather sharply, though Rodney did keep his voice low enough not to wake the baby.  “Enough!  Just tell me what the hell happened that’s got your panties in such a knot.  What the fuck did Weir say?  Unless you ran into some other unreasonable twit on the way here from her office?  Either way, spit it out already.”

The majority of the pent-up energy drained out of him and John rubbed both hands over his face, exhausted and still really pissed.  He told McKay as concisely as possible what the meeting with Weir had been about, but when he met the man’s gaze all he got back was a fixed glare and a few deadpan words.

“I’m sorry, what?”

Sheppard laughed without any humor whatsoever, made his way to the bed, and sat.  “She says I can’t possibly stay on the city and perform my duties with an infant to take care of and since this is no place for a baby she already contacted the IOA in the databurst yesterday demanding the SGC send out a replacement military leader as soon as possible.”

“Weir is kicking you off the city?”  The demand was whisper shouted in a rather impressively high pitch and was followed by an entertaining rant that featured excessive hand waving, some pacing of his own, and more French than John could ever hope to interpret with his lackluster high school language education.

“And!”  A finger was pointed aggressively in his direction.  “We’ve been doing just fine with watching her.  I should know since I’ve been taking turns with Teyla all damn week.”

It was partially true.  He’d taken the first couple days off with her himself but after that Rodney and Teyla had in fact been his go-to baby minders.  Though they had to work too, so he’d quickly branched out further.  “And Ronon.”

McKay rolled his eyes at that, then nodded.  “Okay, yes, Conan the Baby Whisperer helped too.”  They exchanged still incredulous looks, because who had seen those skills coming?  Not John.  He’d almost asked about the man’s babysitting experience but figured any answer to that question would be painful for the former runner.  Not to mention awkward and probably heartbreaking for everyone else.

Pushing that thought away, he cleared his throat.  “And yesterday-”

He wasn’t given the chance to actually finish that statement, being cut off by a sharp hand wave and an even sharper glare that somehow was also a pout.  Because Rodney had not been thrilled when he’d been told that Cadman had ended up watching Eliza while the team was in the field.  Since of course relying on only team members had the one serious drawback of them all being off the city at the same time.

“Yes, yes.  The body-snatching Marine managed to keep her alive for a couple hours.  The point is,” another glare punctuated the statement with the type of emphasis usually expressed through sheer volume, “the kid’s been looked after just fine this week and the rest of your little camo babies haven’t suffered because of it.  There’s no reason to claim you can’t do your job and keep Eliza here too.”

He waited a moment to see if another rant was incoming, but Rodney just waved his hands some more and plopped back onto the edge of the bed.  Sheppard raised both brows at him.

“Are you really that surprised?  She’s been looking for a reason to get rid of me since I stared trying to organize half our away teams for recon and intel gathering.  Getting enough power to run the shield if needed has only reinforced her opinion that the expedition should concentrate almost exclusively on science and the investigation of the city itself.  As far as she’s concerned, having contact with Earth means we don’t need to even go off planet anymore and should leave the natives to their own devices.”

John trailed off with a heavy sigh.  “This is the perfect excuse to get me out of her hair and replace me with a military CO who will follow her lead and not fight with her for resources the way I have been since we got back from the debrief back in July.”

Mt. McKay sputtered and exploded.  Quietly but with clear fury, picking back up with his previous rant and adding points about the strength of his ATA gene and the loyalty of the troops on the city and his valuable experience fighting the Wraith.  Then adding that the civilians trusted him to keep them alive and fucking that up was a recipe for disaster.

He tugged on his hair with both hands.  “I know all this, McKay.  You know all this.  Most everyone on the city knows all this.  Hell, Weir probably knows all this.  But she doesn’t care.  She just wants to explore Atlantis and research Ancient culture and the path to ascension.  Anything and anyone that gets in the way of that is a problem and she’s looking at her fuck up with the machine as a solution to the problem that is me.  What exactly do you want me to do about it?  If the Air Force transfers me off the city I can’t just stomp my feet and refuse to leave.  I’ll be court martialed.”

“So you’re going to what?  Just give up?  What the hell, Sheppard?”  Rodney stomped to the door, spun on his heel and stomped back to the bed where he stopped right in front of him, finger pointed menacingly at his face.  “No!  You are going to fight this, damn it.  You’re going to stay on the city and we’re going to kill Wraith and do science and I refuse to except anything else, you hear me?”

The man’s cheeks were pink and his eyes sparked with anger and passion and suddenly John wanted to pin him to the bed and fuck his brains out.  He had a split second to regret the thought when Rodney flinched back at what must have shown on his face.  A dozen different ways to back peddle or apologize or explain flashed through his mind and John had absolutely no idea what to do.

He opened his mouth to say something but an instant later McKay had surged forward and kissed him.

Five:

It took John long, heart pounding seconds to comprehend what was happening.  Thankfully his body had responded before his brain managed to catch up.  When he truly realized what was going on, he was kissing Rodney back just as hard.

Some of that harsh edge faded as Sheppard pulled his best friend onto the bed and rolled so he was effectively pinning the man to the mattress beneath him.  Yet they lost none of the desperation as they exchanged drugging kisses and panting breaths.

More than one piece of clothing was torn as they frantically stripped themselves and each other.   Neither cared.  The feel of bare skin seemed to invigorate them both and it was all John could do not to make too much noise as the solid weight of Rodney’s body moved against his own.

It was hot and hurried and desperate and utterly beyond comprehension.  But he still didn’t care.  He may have only really recognized his feelings a week before, but even seven days of want had built up to a level of need within him that left the soldier arching his back almost violently when those big capable hands took him apart.

John hadn’t been with a man since senior year of high school, but the unbelievable aspect of the whole situation wasn’t that another man’s cock was rubbing against his own.  It was that the cock belonged to Rodney.  The nipple in his mouth was Rodney’s.  The body he was still pinning to the mattress was Rodney’s.

It was a heady knowledge that had pleasure spiking through him.  Love he hadn’t even admitted aloud swirled with lust and spun him higher.  Rodney’s equally harsh grasp and desperate mouth said he was right there with him and it was all John could do to not come too soon.

Eventually they’d both been reduced to panting their way through the aftershocks, hands tightening rhythmically where John had apparently pinned Rodney’s above their heads, and breath mingling through mouths grown soft and pliant.

Again, it took long moments for reality to assert itself and John again responded with a kiss.  He hadn’t even been aware that Rodney had started to tense beneath him until the man went lax and kissed him back.  All except his hands.  Rodney’s hands tightened on his even as John lifted his head.

Their eyes met briefly before McKay closed his eyes, voice rough but quiet.  “You can’t leave, John.  You’re staying right here on the city, you hear me?”

He swallowed past more emotion than he was capable of understanding let alone explaining to his best friend.  Thankfully, Eliza chose that moment to start crying.

As though the sound broke the building tension, McKay huffed.  “Well, you better go clean up first since you seem to have taken the most of it.”

John rolled his eyes and got up.  “Don’t front, McKay.  I took every single bit of it.”

That got him a small shove towards the bathroom and the last thing he saw before mentally switching on the shower was Rodney leaning over the baby’s basket, perfect ass on full display.  He grinned all through the quick but thorough shower.  The other man shot him a rather suspicious look when he came back into the bedroom and grabbed a pair of sweats, but neither said a word as the baby was passed over and Rodney slipped into the still steamy bathroom.

The smell hit him an instant later.  “Really, McKay?  You couldn’t have at least changed her?”

The laughter came clearly through the door.  Rolling his eyes again and telling Eliza how lazy her Uncle Rodney was, he set about the heinous task of cleaning up his daughter before feeding her the bottle that his lover had mixed while he’d been in the shower.  “At least he managed to get something done,” he told the baby as soon as he settled them on the bed.

It seemed like the man intended on getting a lot more done in the shower and taking his time to do it since he’d managed to feed and burp Eliza and get her back to bed.  Rodney still hadn’t returned.  “He’s such a diva,” John whispered at the sleeping baby.

When she didn’t so much as stir, he wandered over to the still sealed balcony doors and stared out at the dark water.  He was still staring when McKay joined him several minutes later, his own blue eyes sweeping over the waves.  “We’re almost there.  Three or four more days and we should start entering the circumpolar current.  Once in it, we should increase the amount of energy produced by the hydro plant by a factor of at least three.  As long as the last set of repairs hold up against the stronger current.”

Sheppard nodded, not looking away from the watery view.  “I know you’ve got a lot on your plate right now.  That was one of the things Weir said.  That you’re needed to fix the city not babysit.  Apparently…” the level of disdain in his voice wasn’t one he usually allowed himself to show, but honestly, John was fucking tired.

“Apparently, the city needs everyone working and can’t support non-productive individuals especially when they aren’t capable of taking care of themselves.”  He could still hear her voice in his head like a nauseating screech, calling his baby a burden and a liability.  As if it wasn’t her damn fault there was a baby in the first place.

The sound Rodney made in the back of his throat made John crack a smile despite the subject matter.  “Because Elizabeth Weir is just so very productive for the rest of us.  Only thing she produces is bullshit that the actual scientists around her end up shoveling.”

“Maybe, but she’s still technically in charge and I’m afraid we’re going to have to prepare for the IOA to side with her since they always have.”

John lifted a hand, touching the translucent metal that made up the doors.  “I’d like to say we can count on the SGC to fight to keep the military CO in place but Landry is as much my fan as Sumner was and from what I can tell he seems to go along with the IOA most of the time without argument.”  He had his own suspicions about the general and his relationship with the international board but he hadn’t been able to investigate let alone confirm that situation.

McKay sounded rather like the old-fashioned tea kettle his mother used to use before he sputtered out a question about giving in without a fight.

He turned away from the window and met those pretty blue eyes.  “I don’t plan to.  I have an idea, okay?” Sheppard held up a hand to keep from being interrupted.  “I’m working on it but right now I just really want to sleep.”  He lowered his hand, holding it out silently.  Eventually Rodney took it with a huff.  John tugged just a little and led him slowly back to the bed.

There was a clear moment of indecision, of doubt.  Then McKay huffed again, louder, and climbed directly under the covers.  He followed his lover immediately, pulling the familiar strong body against his own.  They held on, their grasp gentle now where before it had been rough and desperate.  Both men relaxed slowly into each other and the bed.

John’s last thought before he fell asleep was that he wanted to keep this.  Rodney.  Eliza.  A room of their own on the city of the Ancients.  And he did have an idea on how he might manage that despite what Elizabeth Weir wanted.  But he was too tired to plot, and with his best friend sleeping peacefully beside him, it was a matter of moments before he was fast asleep himself.

Six:

Judging by the tension of the body laying against him, Rodney was as wide awake as he was.  Sheppard wanted to pull his lover closer, to hold him tighter but he knew doing so would open a conversation he wasn’t sure he wanted to have.  He was already having enough trouble getting the image of Weir’s smug little smirk out of his head.  He closed his eyes but all that did was change the infuriating mental picture to the official orders he’d received that morning from the SGC.

Orders to return to Earth.  John swallowed the anger rising up in his chest.  McKay let his out with a sigh that sounded furious.

“I can’t believe they’re doing this!  How do these Neanderthalic jarheads think that removing the strongest gene carrier we have from the one place that needs it most is the best course of action?  Does the military of your country not teach basic logic and deduction?”

John gave a sigh of his own, though it was decidedly quieter and more tired than Rodney’s as the scientist continued his rant for about ten minutes.  He let his best friend spew his frustration, just wrapping an arm tighter around him and holding on until Rodney started to wind down.

“I have a plan,” John reminded him quietly.

McKay huffed, fighting his way free of the blankets and stomping over to the balcony.  As soon as John followed and had stepped out into the warm night, he crossed his arms and stared.

“Right.  Care to share that oh-so brilliant plan of yours?  Because I keep hearing you say you have it but you have yet to explain what it actually is.”  Large, beautiful blue eyes narrowed.  “And it better be good, Sheppard!”

“I think we should let Weir and Landry think they won.”  The clearly indignant expression Rodney gave him as he opened his mouth to comment made his opinion of that clear but before he could verbalize it, John went on.

“I go to Earth and take parental leave.  They’re supposedly sending me back because of the baby so I can use that.  They’ll expect me to get Eliza settled, find a place to stay since barracks aren’t exactly baby friendly.  Taking some time to see my family and introduce them to my daughter won’t look suspicious in those circumstances.”

“Bullshit,” McKay cut in, glancing back into the room where Eliza slept in her basket.  “You haven’t spoken to your dad in like a decade, John Sheppard!  How is popping in for a family reunion not suspicious when you’re estranged from your father?”

John refused to either flinch or allow his thoughts to wander into exactly how accurately Rodney described his relationship with his only living parent.  Instead, he leaned on the balcony rail and stared out at the water, glad to be able to now that the city wasn’t being moved.  “My family dynamics aren’t well known, McKay.  You’re the first person I’ve talked about it with since before my divorce and that was only because Nancy knew my dad and my brother before we got married.”

Rodney looked a little smug at that, but only slightly mollified.  “Fine.  But how does that help us?”

“Because they also don’t know that my dad is good friends with one of the Joint Chiefs.”

“And you think your dad’s buddy will get you back on the city?”

One day John was going to ask how Rodney managed to get that much incredulity into his voice without yelling.  “No.  I think my dad’s friend can get me a meeting with O’Neill since Landry certainly won’t.  And O’Neill can get me back to Atlantis.  He knows the value of an ATA gene like mine on the city of the Ancients.  And if I’m right about Landry cherry-picking the information actually getting to Homeworld from the city then getting him full copies of our reports will cinch it.”

There were several seconds of scowling silence from McKay.  No doubt remembering how annoyed he’d been a few days before when John had asked Miko instead of him, to get him copies of all the official reports he and Lorne had filled and supposedly sent along to Homeworld.  If Landry’s reports to O’Neill were as misleading as Weir’s were to the IOA it would certainly explain the disconnect between what they’d sent and the responses they’d received.

“And while you’re on Earth bribing your father with baby cuddles for classified meetings and schooling O’Neill on Landry and Weir being hosehead turd biscuits, I’m supposed to what?  Twiddle my thumbs back here and hope for the best?”

“No.”  John turned away from the water and waited for his lover to join him at the railing.  “You’re going to work.  You’re going to keep an eye on Weir and get this city running the way only you could.  Because even if we deal with all the other issues and prove that I in particular am needed as the military CO on Atlantis, safety is still going to be a concern they could leverage if I want to bring Eliza back here with me.”

McKay immediately bristled, standing from where he’d been leaning on the railing.  “What do you mean if you bring her back?  Are you suggesting that-”

John didn’t let him finish.  He closed the distance between them, leaned forward with one hand on the railing on either side of him and practically pinned Rodney back against it.  “I might have briefly considered letting someone else raise her when she first came out of that machine, but Eliza is mine.”

John moved closer still, his face so close to McKay’s that he felt like he was a little cross-eyed as he stared at him.  “Eliza is mine,” he repeated, punctuating the words with a short kiss.  “You’re mine too, McKay.”  The kiss was longer that time, leaving them both a little short of breath when he pulled back far enough to speak.  “We are both coming back to Atlantis.  To you.  You hear me?”

He got a scowl in response, but coming from Rodney it was almost comforting somehow.  Familiar.

“Fine,” he eventually said, scowling harder when his voice came out a little pouty.  “But if you expect me to pull off more miracles than normal, I’ve got a lot to do and I’ll need to start first thing.”  Rodney cleared his throat and pushed John back so he could slip past him and back into the room.  “So that means no more brooding because I have to sleep and you think too loud when you’re suppressing your emotions in a manly manner.”

He watched Rodney stomp back to the bed, muttering under his breath about all the things he had to do.

“Miko is still researching the wind turbines and putting together a plan for repairs.  Zelenka is looking into solar because there’s no way this big ass city has so much surface area and they never thought to use solar.”

John waited for him to get situated in the bed, tugging the blanket into the precise arrangement he was looking for as he continued talking.

“According to the early records, the ZedPM’s were intended for limited use and they got lazy during the war and didn’t maintain the other power methods and just relied on the ZedPM’s.  Which was fine and dandy for them since they never apparently worried about running out of them.”

He couldn’t help but smile a little at the petulant way Rodney crossed his arms as he lay back in the bed, though he was smart enough to clear his expression before joining him under the covers.  “I thought you needed to sleep?”

Rodney glared at him before fussing with the covers again and punching the pillow a little.  “Shut up.”

John laughed softly and pulled his lover into the little spoon position.  When they were both still and quiet, he pressed a soft kiss to the back of McKay’s neck.  The arm resting atop his where it was wrapped around Rodney shifted slightly and fingers laced with his.

He’d downplayed the idea of talking with his dad for the first time in more than ten years.  Just the thought of it was nerve wracking.  But for this?  For Rodney and Eliza and Atlantis?  It would be worth it.  Any response his father might have to him turning up unannounced after eleven years with a brand-new surprise baby in toe would be worth it if he got to keep this.