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crack_van2011-11-28 03:44 pm
mf_luder_xf) wrote in crack_van2011-11-28 03:44 pm
Entry tags:
Cute As...Series by Gillian (R)
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Pairing: John/Rodney
Length: ~60,600 (plus 14,000 for the sequel)
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gillianinoz (but it appears private only now)
Author Website: Gillian's Stargate Fiction
This was one of the first McShep fics I read back in the day and it's stuck with me since. What I like about it is that the genderbendering is more unusual than most. The change appears permanent and so Rodney HAS to get used to it. It's not something he can simply work at to fix the mechanical nature of the problem. Watching John and Rodney's relationship develop is interesting and sweet. Again, it's slightly unusual in that both men are straight, which just might complicate things.
The writing is action packed and smart which keeps the story moving along, leaving you wanting more.
"McKay," Ronon said in his deep voice. "Is your backpack supposed to be beeping?"
Rodney frowned and reached for his black pack, pulling out his handheld scanner and frowning at it. "I don't believe it," he breathed. "I'm picking up another energy signature."
Sheppard pushed himself to his feet, surveying the dark ruins around them suspiciously. "Where from?"
Rodney pointed excitedly. "Could we be lucky enough to find another ZedPM?'" he said hopefully.
"It doesn't make sense," Teyla said, echoing John's thoughts. "Why are you only just picking it up now? We have been here for hours."
"I don't know," Rodney said irritably, in his best I-don't-want-to-hear-about-it voice. "Maybe we triggered something when we were wandering around earlier."
"Like a booby-trap?" Ronon said, hand on his own holstered weapon.
"Not necessarily," Rodney said. "Why do you always have to look on the worst side?"
Ronon just looked at him for a long moment and McKay quirked his mouth and shrugged. "Never mind."
"You sure it's not Wraith?" Sheppard asked, even though he knew he was probably going to get way more of an answer than he wanted.
"It's Ancient technology," Rodney snapped. "Or do I need to explain the difference to you again?"
"Please don't," Sheppard said dryly.
"Our scout only reported a single energy signature," Yegor said, staring into the darkened ruins. "And he also surmised it was Ancient. Which was why we contacted your people in the first place." He shot a look of barely veiled hostility his way and Sheppard returned it measure for measure. Yegor's look said he wished they hadn't bothered and Sheppard hoped his look told Yegor and every Genii ever what they could do with that hope. Besides, it wasn't as if the Genii were doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. Elizabeth had promised to pay a high price if the joint effort resulted in a power source for the city.
Didn't mean Sheppard had to like it though.
"I don't like it," he said. "We should wait until it's light to investigate."
"What if the signal fades again?" Rodney protested. "It's not far away, maybe only a hundred meters." He trained his best pleading glance on him and John turned it over in his mind as he studied each of the party members in turn. Teyla and Ronon, standing at the ready. Yegor and his two quiet friends, staring at him expressionlessly. Lilya, looking young and a little sleepy in her ill fitting uniform. And finally Rodney, who might be great at getting them all out of trouble, but also had a world class track record of getting them into it in the first place.
"Fine," Sheppard bit out. "I'll take point with McKay. Ronon, you and Teyla have our six. Stay close, watch where you put your feet, and for god's sake don't touch anything until McKay gives the okay."
888
The device turned out to be typical Ancient technology. That is, it was solid and square and completely mysterious.
"Rodney," Sheppard warned as the scientist peered down at the dull crystals slotted in its surface.
"Don't worry, Colonel," Rodney assured him. "The energy signature has already faded. The device is completely shut down." He frowned and looked around the dank little room. "This just doesn't make sense," he muttered.
"What?"
"It's an Ancient device all right. But it doesn't look like it belongs here. It almost looks like it's been moved in here."
Sheppard tightened his grip on his gun, noting that Teyla and Ronon were already flanking the Genii scientists, their weapons at the ready.
"Moved here, huh?" Sheppard said suspiciously. "Like a trap?"
"Yeah, but set by who?" Rodney crouched and flipped open a panel, scanning the interior carefully.
"I really wish you wouldn't play with the mysterious device," John said in exasperation.
"Believe me, Colonel," Rodney said, meeting his eyes over the rim of the machine. "I'm not about to turn this thing on. Even if I had the first clue what it was."
And Sheppard did believe him, the sting of Carson's death was still too recent for them all. One simple mistake, one flip of a switch, and people, good people were dead.
"Are you sure the energy was coming from this device at all?" Lilya ventured, stepping closer.
"Pretty sure," Rodney said, straightening with one hand on the console and the other hand to his back. "Although I still don't..."
John Sheppard would go over the next few moments in his head a hundred times in the days that followed. Rodney's puzzled face, the beams of light from their flashlights playing around the eerie ruins. Lilya, leaning forward and resting one small hand on the paneled surface of the device.
And then the blast of electric blue energy that sizzled up from the Ancient machine, its power throwing them back on the ground, its glare blinding them for long moments as Rodney and the Genii girl seemed wrapped in the raw, crackling power.
And then the blessed silence as the light died as quickly as it had been born, and all that was left was the ragged sighs of their breath as they struggled to process what had happened.
"McKay!" Sheppard yelled, scrambling over the filthy floor to his team member's side. Rodney was sprawled in the moss and dirt, hands flung out to his side, clothes smoking gently. Teyla was beside him, her hands running over McKay's skin as John caught at the front of his jacket and shook him. "Rodney! Are you okay?"
Dimly he was aware of the Genii scrambling on the other side of the machine. Of anxious tones and hushed voices. Ronon crouched at Rodney's head, his stoic face worried but his eyes still scanning the room, the others, the entrance. Always on the alert.
"Colonel," Teyla said, her voice rough. Her hand was pressed to Rodney's throat, her skin pale under the smudges of grime. She shook her head, her eyes huge.
"No," Sheppard ground out, reading the devastated grief in her eyes. He pushed her hand roughly aside and tilted Rodney's head back, sealing his mouth over his friend's and pinching his nose shut. He blew two short breaths and felt Rodney's chest rise. Desperately he released Rodney's nostrils and glanced at his chest, listening for the sound of breathing. "Come on," he muttered, repeating the process, ignoring the chill that seemed to be creeping over Rodney's flesh.
"Dammit, Rodney! Come on!" he yelled.
"Nothing," Teyla said thickly, her fingers on Rodney's pulse, his slack hand cradled in hers.
"He's dead," Ronon said quietly.
"He can't be," Sheppard said harshly. He caught at Rodney's jacket again, pulling the slack body up and shaking it. "Goddammit, McKay!"
Big hands caught at his, squeezed, pulled them loose from the clutch of fabric. "John," Ronon said. "Let him go. He's gone."
He can't be, John thought again, running the words like a litany in his mind. Not just like that, a flash of light, falling into the dirt. Not Rodney who routinely pulled off miracles and dragged himself and others back from the brink of death, time after time. Even now, falling back onto his heels as he still crouched by the lifeless body, even now John's eyes were drawn to Rodney's face, that mobile mouth slack, those expressive blue eyes half open, expecting it to spring back to mobility and life. He watched as Ronon's big hand swept over Rodney's face, closing those eyes forever.
And it started sinking in.
Teyla had tears on her face as she caught at Rodney's hands and laid them gently over his chest. "How did this happen?" she whispered.
"Good question," John said, as his horror and shock solidified within him and he rose to his feet. Teyla stayed kneeling protectively at Rodney's side, but Ronon shadowed John as he skirted the smoking device and drew his gun on the Genii scientists. They were crouched around Lilya, one of them had removed his coat and laid it around her tenderly. John dimly registered that they were showing her more concern in death than they had in life.
Cute As...
And the sequel: Alternate
Pairing: John/Rodney
Length: ~60,600 (plus 14,000 for the sequel)
Author on LJ:
gillianinoz (but it appears private only now) Author Website: Gillian's Stargate Fiction
This was one of the first McShep fics I read back in the day and it's stuck with me since. What I like about it is that the genderbendering is more unusual than most. The change appears permanent and so Rodney HAS to get used to it. It's not something he can simply work at to fix the mechanical nature of the problem. Watching John and Rodney's relationship develop is interesting and sweet. Again, it's slightly unusual in that both men are straight, which just might complicate things.
The writing is action packed and smart which keeps the story moving along, leaving you wanting more.
"McKay," Ronon said in his deep voice. "Is your backpack supposed to be beeping?"
Rodney frowned and reached for his black pack, pulling out his handheld scanner and frowning at it. "I don't believe it," he breathed. "I'm picking up another energy signature."
Sheppard pushed himself to his feet, surveying the dark ruins around them suspiciously. "Where from?"
Rodney pointed excitedly. "Could we be lucky enough to find another ZedPM?'" he said hopefully.
"It doesn't make sense," Teyla said, echoing John's thoughts. "Why are you only just picking it up now? We have been here for hours."
"I don't know," Rodney said irritably, in his best I-don't-want-to-hear-about-it voice. "Maybe we triggered something when we were wandering around earlier."
"Like a booby-trap?" Ronon said, hand on his own holstered weapon.
"Not necessarily," Rodney said. "Why do you always have to look on the worst side?"
Ronon just looked at him for a long moment and McKay quirked his mouth and shrugged. "Never mind."
"You sure it's not Wraith?" Sheppard asked, even though he knew he was probably going to get way more of an answer than he wanted.
"It's Ancient technology," Rodney snapped. "Or do I need to explain the difference to you again?"
"Please don't," Sheppard said dryly.
"Our scout only reported a single energy signature," Yegor said, staring into the darkened ruins. "And he also surmised it was Ancient. Which was why we contacted your people in the first place." He shot a look of barely veiled hostility his way and Sheppard returned it measure for measure. Yegor's look said he wished they hadn't bothered and Sheppard hoped his look told Yegor and every Genii ever what they could do with that hope. Besides, it wasn't as if the Genii were doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. Elizabeth had promised to pay a high price if the joint effort resulted in a power source for the city.
Didn't mean Sheppard had to like it though.
"I don't like it," he said. "We should wait until it's light to investigate."
"What if the signal fades again?" Rodney protested. "It's not far away, maybe only a hundred meters." He trained his best pleading glance on him and John turned it over in his mind as he studied each of the party members in turn. Teyla and Ronon, standing at the ready. Yegor and his two quiet friends, staring at him expressionlessly. Lilya, looking young and a little sleepy in her ill fitting uniform. And finally Rodney, who might be great at getting them all out of trouble, but also had a world class track record of getting them into it in the first place.
"Fine," Sheppard bit out. "I'll take point with McKay. Ronon, you and Teyla have our six. Stay close, watch where you put your feet, and for god's sake don't touch anything until McKay gives the okay."
888
The device turned out to be typical Ancient technology. That is, it was solid and square and completely mysterious.
"Rodney," Sheppard warned as the scientist peered down at the dull crystals slotted in its surface.
"Don't worry, Colonel," Rodney assured him. "The energy signature has already faded. The device is completely shut down." He frowned and looked around the dank little room. "This just doesn't make sense," he muttered.
"What?"
"It's an Ancient device all right. But it doesn't look like it belongs here. It almost looks like it's been moved in here."
Sheppard tightened his grip on his gun, noting that Teyla and Ronon were already flanking the Genii scientists, their weapons at the ready.
"Moved here, huh?" Sheppard said suspiciously. "Like a trap?"
"Yeah, but set by who?" Rodney crouched and flipped open a panel, scanning the interior carefully.
"I really wish you wouldn't play with the mysterious device," John said in exasperation.
"Believe me, Colonel," Rodney said, meeting his eyes over the rim of the machine. "I'm not about to turn this thing on. Even if I had the first clue what it was."
And Sheppard did believe him, the sting of Carson's death was still too recent for them all. One simple mistake, one flip of a switch, and people, good people were dead.
"Are you sure the energy was coming from this device at all?" Lilya ventured, stepping closer.
"Pretty sure," Rodney said, straightening with one hand on the console and the other hand to his back. "Although I still don't..."
John Sheppard would go over the next few moments in his head a hundred times in the days that followed. Rodney's puzzled face, the beams of light from their flashlights playing around the eerie ruins. Lilya, leaning forward and resting one small hand on the paneled surface of the device.
And then the blast of electric blue energy that sizzled up from the Ancient machine, its power throwing them back on the ground, its glare blinding them for long moments as Rodney and the Genii girl seemed wrapped in the raw, crackling power.
And then the blessed silence as the light died as quickly as it had been born, and all that was left was the ragged sighs of their breath as they struggled to process what had happened.
"McKay!" Sheppard yelled, scrambling over the filthy floor to his team member's side. Rodney was sprawled in the moss and dirt, hands flung out to his side, clothes smoking gently. Teyla was beside him, her hands running over McKay's skin as John caught at the front of his jacket and shook him. "Rodney! Are you okay?"
Dimly he was aware of the Genii scrambling on the other side of the machine. Of anxious tones and hushed voices. Ronon crouched at Rodney's head, his stoic face worried but his eyes still scanning the room, the others, the entrance. Always on the alert.
"Colonel," Teyla said, her voice rough. Her hand was pressed to Rodney's throat, her skin pale under the smudges of grime. She shook her head, her eyes huge.
"No," Sheppard ground out, reading the devastated grief in her eyes. He pushed her hand roughly aside and tilted Rodney's head back, sealing his mouth over his friend's and pinching his nose shut. He blew two short breaths and felt Rodney's chest rise. Desperately he released Rodney's nostrils and glanced at his chest, listening for the sound of breathing. "Come on," he muttered, repeating the process, ignoring the chill that seemed to be creeping over Rodney's flesh.
"Dammit, Rodney! Come on!" he yelled.
"Nothing," Teyla said thickly, her fingers on Rodney's pulse, his slack hand cradled in hers.
"He's dead," Ronon said quietly.
"He can't be," Sheppard said harshly. He caught at Rodney's jacket again, pulling the slack body up and shaking it. "Goddammit, McKay!"
Big hands caught at his, squeezed, pulled them loose from the clutch of fabric. "John," Ronon said. "Let him go. He's gone."
He can't be, John thought again, running the words like a litany in his mind. Not just like that, a flash of light, falling into the dirt. Not Rodney who routinely pulled off miracles and dragged himself and others back from the brink of death, time after time. Even now, falling back onto his heels as he still crouched by the lifeless body, even now John's eyes were drawn to Rodney's face, that mobile mouth slack, those expressive blue eyes half open, expecting it to spring back to mobility and life. He watched as Ronon's big hand swept over Rodney's face, closing those eyes forever.
And it started sinking in.
Teyla had tears on her face as she caught at Rodney's hands and laid them gently over his chest. "How did this happen?" she whispered.
"Good question," John said, as his horror and shock solidified within him and he rose to his feet. Teyla stayed kneeling protectively at Rodney's side, but Ronon shadowed John as he skirted the smoking device and drew his gun on the Genii scientists. They were crouched around Lilya, one of them had removed his coat and laid it around her tenderly. John dimly registered that they were showing her more concern in death than they had in life.
Cute As...
And the sequel: Alternate
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A great rec. ♥
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