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They finally found him in one of the corridors in the lower levels; a sodden, crumpled pile of broken-looking astrophysicist.
John's boots sent splashes and arcs of water off to either side of him as he ran and skidded down the hallway to where Rodney was slumped boneless and unconscious against a wall. The glows of the five-member rescue team's flashlights reflected in the vast puddle of water that surrounded him as they drew closer. Water gathered in the cloth at Rodney's elbow, pooling in the dark folds of his jacket before falling to the ground with an ominous-sounding drip; thick like blood on blood.
---
'The shielding in this area is steadily weakening,' Rodney said, fingers circling over a section of the monitor, drawing John's eyes to a section of the city at the very edge of one of the towers. 'We've tried handling the problem remotely, but whatever's affecting the shield is interrupting the pathways from the control area.'
'So we need to go in manually.' John concluded, and Rodney nodded decisively. 'Yes. Well, no-- I need to go in manually. The area's structurally sound, and tricky as the repairs might be for some of the idiots who are incapable of double-checking their calculations!' he paused to glare at Radek, who muttered something with lots of 'k' sounds in Czech and turned his back on them.
John raised his hands protectively when Rodney spun back around to him with a Can-You-Believe-This-Guy? expression. 'I'm so not getting involved in this, McKay. The last time I was involved in one of your arguments I ended up getting followed around the city by electrical shocks.'
Rodney huffed and folded his arms over his chest. 'Fine, fine. Anyway, it'll only take about an hour for me to fix it and double-check my work. I'll be free for lunch then. You want to wait?'
'Sure,' John agreed, walking slowly out of the room backwards. 'You can tell me all about the latest science lab drama over pasta salad. See you then. Be careful down there.'
John paused in the doorway. 'And also, probably when you're around Radek. Those shocks hurt, you know.'
He left Radek grinning scarily and Rodney throwing his hands up in the air in frustration.
---
John crouched down beside Rodney, balancing on the slick surface with a hand on the wall. He watched as two medical staff worked over him efficiently but gently, pulling him out of the worst of the water after they'd checked his neck and spine.
Rodney stirred briefly when they undid his jacket and unbuttoned the top of his shirt. He groaned low and full of pain, his eyelids flickering open and closed. He submitted to having a light shone in his eyes with relative grace, for Rodney anyway, and then passed out again.
'Doc?' John shifted closer to Rodney and set two fingers carefully on Rodney's inner wrist, feeling for the steady pulse under clammy skin. 'He okay?'
The doctor sat back on his heels. 'He's got a minor concussion, maybe a few fractured ribs, and I want to get him awake and out of this cold water as soon as possible, get him under the scanner just to make sure, but I'm pretty sure that other than that he's good.'
John looked down, saw Rodney breathing steadily and shivering slightly, and his own hand wrapped over Rodney's wrist, his thumb skimming over the soft skin of Rodney's inner forearm. He let himself stay there for a minute while the medics got ready to move Rodney up to the infirmary, then stood up and moved to where Radek was standing, fingers flying over the screen of his handheld computer.
'What happened here?'
Radek's hand never stopped moving.
'The shielding deteriorated at a faster rate than we were expecting. Luckily, Rodney was almost finished when the shield in this area collapsed, but I imagine that just as he was instituting the repair, water breached the city. Rodney must not have been able to get out of the way quickly enough, but he did finish the repair before any serious damage was done.'
'Of course he did, he's Rodney,' John drawled, his eyes skipping to the side to check up on what was happening with Rodney.
'We're ready to move him up now, Colonel.'
John nodded. 'Radek, have you got everything you need from down here?'
Radek pushed his glasses up. 'Yes, yes, I have everything.'
'Great.' John turned and guided the scientist down the hallway into the transporter with the rest of the group. 'Let's get out of here.'
---
'Mmm.'
John sat on the edge of the bed and watched Rodney turn towards him in his sleep. He ran a finger over Rodney's cheek, and then cupped his shoulder, carefully shaking him awake.
'Rodney? Hey, Rodney.' Rodney's eyes blinked open, focusing on John's face after a few sleepy seconds.
'Hey,' Rodney said, a yawn starting before he could finish the word.
'Time for me to get going, buddy,' John murmured. Rodney smiled at him, and ran a hand up his bent arm to the nape of his neck.
'You're all wet,' Rodney said, fingers carding through John's hair.
'Just out of the shower.' John ducked his head down and pressed a closed-mouth kiss to Rodney's crooked lips.
'I like you all wet,' Rodney said, kissing him again. 'Do you think I could persuade you to have two showers in one day? Maybe we could get all wet together later tonight?'
John smirked down at Rodney and squeezed his shoulder. 'I think I could probably be persuaded. Cleanliness is next to godliness and all that. I'll see you at lunch?'
Rodney's fingers slipped out of John's hair. 'Sure. Come by the labs and get me.'
John ducked down for one more kiss. 'See you later, Rodney.'
By the time John had pulled on his boots and reached the door, Rodney was asleep again.
---
John wandered into the infirmary, squinting slightly in the early morning sunlight. Rodney was sitting on the edge of an infirmary cot, legs dangling artlessly. There were two nurses wandering around the area by his bed, one looking ready to murder and the other clearly biting back laughter. John decided he didn't want to know.
'You ready to leave?' he asked, stopping a few feet from the bed.
Rodney sighed deeply and slid gingerly from the bed to the ground, hands pressing into his ribcage. 'I've been ready to leave since last night. I'm hungry, I've got a headache and I smell like a pond.'
'Business as usual then,' John said, smirking. Rodney looked less than impressed.
'You're so funny, Colonel. My sides are splitting. Oh no, wait, they already were.'
John gave Rodney a once-over. 'They didn't strap up your ribs?'
Rodney snarled in the direction of the pissed off nurse as they walked out into Atlantis. 'I'm told that the preferred treatment for fractured ribs is just to leave the patient in screaming pain. If they were broken it would be a different matter, but as it is: ow.'
John let Rodney rant about the standard of medical care in the Pegasus galaxy until they got into Rodney's quarters. When the door closed, John settled his hand over Rodney's jaw and his thumb over Rodney's lips.
'We never got to that shower last night. You went and got all wet on your own without me.'
Rodney snorted. 'Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Colonel. You should have felt entirely free to join me in getting hit by a tumult of freezing cold brine.'
John ignored him and started pulling at the scrubs Rodney was wearing. 'C'mon, you said you smelt like a pond. You weren't wrong.'
'Ever the flatterer,' Rodney grumbled, but let John manipulate him until they were both naked and under a spray of hot, clean water.
John pulled Rodney against his chest and pressed his cheek against Rodney's wet hair. 'You've got a big bump on the back of your head, here, did you know that?'
'No, I missed the egg-sized lump of aching flesh on my own head, thank you,' Rodney said. His voice was muffled; face shoved tight against John's dripping shoulder. John grabbed the shampoo and started working it through Rodney's hair, going slowly and trying to be as gentle as possible. Rodney groaned, tired but content, and shifted their slick-wet bodies until they were pressed more comfortably together.
'This is a much nicer way of getting wet,' Rodney said, pressing his lips into John's neck. John hummed his agreement, sliding his hands down Rodney's big, broad back. His fingers slid easily across the smooth, warm, wet skin, coming to rest at the hollow just above Rodney's ass. He breathed in the smell of steam and shampoo and clean, safe Rodney.
'Yeah,' John said. 'Can't think of a better one.'
END