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"Unspoken Bond"
by Grey Lupous
Summary: Actions speak louder than words – especially when you don't talk much to begin with. Spoilers: Anything up to 4x02 "Lifeline A/N: Written for Leesa Perrie during the Jumperbay's Secret Santa Fic Exchange. She requested a Ronon/Radek/Rodney friendship fic. I think it leans more towards Ronon and Rodney, but Radek is definitely there too! Thanks to the wonderful Gayle for a quick beta. This is set somewhere between "Lifeline" and "Reunion".
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This is what Rodney hated about getting to know
people. At some point or another, anyone he had
gotten close to (or had wanted to get to know
better), left him, or finally got sick of his
abrasive personality. Sam Carter could barely stand
him he knew (even if in his head she talked him into
keeping himself alive), Carson had been killed by
the world's stupidest medical accident, and
Elizabeth was mind melding with the Asuran
replicators.
The kicker about this was he hadn't even noticed it
when he and Ronon had crossed the line from
"teammates" to "friends". The 'f' word was one of
the most terrifying words in the English dictionary
to one surly scientist. After all, Rodney didn't let
just anyone beat him senseless with a wooden
sword.
"Rodney..." Radek's voice was tight with fear as he
used his jacket to staunch the flow of blood pouring
from the Satedan's shoulder. "Rodney, don't."
"Don't what?" he had wanted to ask, but instead he
just stared at the nine millimeter shaking in front
of him. He thought the marine's name could have been
West, but he wasn't sure. He had never been good at
names, and he certainly wasn't going to lose sleep
over forgetting the name of someone that had just
shot Ronon.
"He shouldn't have done that." West's voice was
high-strung, eyes wild.
Rodney watched as the deep red quickly soaked into
the gray material on Zelenka's jacket. That really
wasn't good. Someone pounded relentlessly on the
malfunctioning door as they shouted useless threats.
Probably Sheppard.
"Rodney--" Radek tried again, but the swift shift of
the gun in his direction silenced him.
The pounding on the door took up rhythm with
Rodney's heart, until all he could hear was the
blood rushing through his ears, and all he could see
was Ronon's blood splattered against his and West's
clothing.
"Just shut up, shut up!" The marine's grip on the
gun was tight despite the shaking hand.
The red stain continued to spread, soaking almost
the entire jacket at this point.
Never ever look away from your enemy. It
shows weakness.
Rodney's gaze snapped back to the shaking gun
pointing at both Radek and Ronon.
"Make them shut up!" West was screaming at this
point; sweat dripping down the side of his face.
"We just made the hand-off."
Radek seemed to shrink a little, but did not budge
from his position over Ronon. The quaking grip on
the pistol stilled, and West let out a half-sob,
half-giggle.
"Stay here!"
"Elizabeth!"
The shot went wide as Rodney leapt onto the deranged
marine's back like a manic chimpanzee. West
staggered forward under the weight but his grip had
solidified on the pistol. Rodney held on for dear
life, trying to scrabble for control of the gun.
They twirled around the floor of the Ancient lab as
if locked in some kind of deadly dance. Eventually
military training and brute strength managed to win
over divinely insane acts of bravery, and Rodney was
roughly tossed to the floor. He pulled himself up in
time to look down the barrel of the gun he had just
tried to wrestle away.
A deafening explosion ripped through the door
separating them from the rest of Atlantis, drowning
out any other sound. West crumpled to the ground in
a boneless heap the same time something sharp bit
Rodney in the cheek. He ran a hand along the
stinging sensation, confused as it came back dotted
with fresh blood and bits of what looked to be the
lab's floor. His gaze dropped to the floor next to
him, where a nine millimeter slug had plowed a small
crater into floor right next to him.
And that's when Rodney fainted.
* * * * *
And by faint, he meant passed out.
He awoke to find a messy rat's nest standing at his
bedside. He shook away his disorientation and
recognized the rat's nest as one Radek Zelenka.
"You are insane."
"What?" Rodney blinked. Bedside manner apparently
wasn't one of Radek's strong points either.
"Leaping onto crazed marine like you are Rambo."
The memory of the event slowly came back to him, and
Rodney pushed himself into a sitting position,
surprised to find that at some point someone had
changed him into scrubs. He wasn't sure if he was
grateful or outraged, and decided to focus onto
something that made him less uncomfortable.
Sadly, that magical subject was proving to be
elusive.
Since he couldn't think of anything to distract him
from what had transpired he might as well get the
whole uncomfortable truth out now. "What exactly
happened?"
Radek shifted awkwardly. Apparently he wasn't
completely at ease with the subject himself. "West
activated one of the devices in the lab."
Crazy soldiers and their stupid ATA genes always
activating things without proper analysis. Rodney
was going to have to start putting "Do Not Touch"
signs on all things Ancient. "What the hell
does that to someone?"
Radek shrugged helplessly. Judging by his rumpled
state, it hadn't been altogether too long since the
unfortunate event in question. "It was almost
destroyed in blast. I have a team looking through
the database now."
The sad thing was Rodney wasn't sure he really
wanted to know what it was or was supposed to do.
His opinion of the Ancients had taken a blow ever
since coming to the Pegasus Galaxy and encountering
all of the death traps they had unwittingly left
behind. He remained quiet for a while, before
finally approaching the next topic. "West?"
Radek grimaced. "Colonel Sheppard shot him when they
stormed the lab."
Rodney nodded silently, eyes straying to the
separate ICU section of the infirmary. Seeming to
read his mind, which Rodney found more than a little
disconcerting, Radek continued. "Ronon is out of
surgery. Keller says he will be fine."
Some of the tightness in his chest loosened at that,
but not all of it. He wanted to say something snappy
and witty, if only to wipe that worried chipmunk
look off of Radek's face. Nothing came to him, which
was almost as bad as the Czech starting to read his
mind. Instead Rodney pulled himself to his feet,
padding across the infirmary in his bare feet. He
dimly registered the fact that Radek was following
him.
He found them quite easily, as there was only one
occupied bed in ICU. Sheppard gave him a quick,
tight nod as he approached. He frowned as he noted
Teyla was missing.
"Snack run," Sheppard said, studying Rodney a little
too closely for the scientist's comfort.
He managed to sum up an annoyed glower. "What are
you looking at?"
"You fainted." Which, somehow, Rodney could tell
wasn't at all what Sheppard was really thinking. He
decided not to think too much on that either. His
head hurt enough as it was.
"Passed out," he corrected, annoyance a little less
forced.
"I will go check on progress on team identifying the
device," Radek stuttered behind him, and Rodney
watched him practically flee from the infirmary. The
coward.
A sick feeling settled in the pit of his stomach and
when he turned back, Sheppard was looking at him
again in that same, unnerving manner.
"Will you stop that!"
"Rodney--"
Thankfully, that was the moment that Ronon chose to
wake up. "Mind keeping it down, McKay?"
For the second time that day, Rodney was grateful to
Ronon in more ways than words could express. A quick
glance at Sheppard let him know that whatever he
wanted to say would wait for later. Rodney decided
that he would need to find many many things to
repair in the meantime.
"Hey, buddy." Sheppard shot Rodney a quick look,
letting him know that the conversation he had tried
to start would happen at some point. "How you
feeling?"
Ronon grunted, which was his manly way of groaning
in pain. "Like I almost lost the other shoulder."
"Two for two, I always say."
"When do you say that?" Rodney volleyed back
with his own look to Sheppard, clearly signifying
that he would be entirely too busy fixing
various problems around Atlantis for any silly
talks.
"The other day," Ronon rumbled from the bed. "I
heard him."
"Yeah, of course you'd take his side," Rodney
grumped as he crossed his arms, purposefully staring
at the wall instead of looking at either of his
teammates.
The first sign that something had gone wrong was
that the door to the lab was shut, and someone from
the other side was trying unsuccessfully to open it.
Rodney turned to tell his marine escort of this and
encountered the second sign that something was not
right, which was the fact that said escort had drawn
his pistol and was aiming it in Rodney's face.
"He likes me better," Sheppard crowed.
"Of course he does," Rodney snarked back, carefully
looking just past the pilot's shoulder.
"You both like to shoot and blow up anything in
sight."
West had begun babbling about voices, which for
some reason he was convinced Rodney was responsible
for.
"Good times, good times." Sheppard's grin was
forced, and his sharp gaze had never left Rodney.
"I'm surrounded by pyromaniacs." Rodney moved so
that he was out of the colonel's line of sight,
unfortunately this placed him directly in Ronon's.
"Where's Teyla?" Ronon interrupted their carefully
worded conversation about nothing.
"Snack run," Sheppard replied without hesitation.
Ronon nodded his approval. "They were making pie
today."
"I'll make sure she gets some," John said, reaching
for his radio.
And for the third time that day, Ronon proved
himself to be Rodney's very bestest friend ever.
"She can't carry enough herself."
"Oh?"
"We're going to need a lot." Ronon gave Sheppard a
look that clearly said "Do you not know me at all?"
"He's a growing boy," Rodney chimed in.
Sheppard frowned, glancing between his two teammates
suspiciously, before shrugging his shoulders
lightly. "Why don't I make sure she gets enough
then?"
"That'd be great."
"I'll be back before you know it."
Sheppard shot Rodney a final look as he left ICU.
He wasn't even aware Ronon had picked up that
something was wrong until his frame was suddenly
blocking Rodney's view of the gun, and there was
blood splattered across his jacket and face.
"Thanks." He wanted to say more, something
ingeniously insightful about unspoken bonds, things
that went deeper than words. However his social
ineptitude stole the words before he could even
begin to form them.
Ronon understood though, and just gave him a tired
smile in return. "Anytime, McKay. Anytime."
End
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