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SGA: Lucky Ones (part 3 - final)
Title: Lucky Ones
Genre: AU, McShep, genderswitch
Rating: R for violence, language, and implication of non-con.
Season/Spoilers: Ronon’s in it, but considering this is an AU, not much spoiler-wise.
Synopsis: They took Mer. Jill’s going to get her back.
Author’s Notes 1: Takes place in my Gate Ministry/Jill and Mer universe. If you’re not sure what that is, basically everyone from the Milky Way galaxy is genderswitched and everyone from the Pegasus galaxy is not. Meet Lieutenant Colonel Jillian Sheppard and Doctor Meredith McKay.
Author’s Notes 2: The title comes from the Bif Naked song “Lucky Ones”.
Disclaimer: I don’t own the Stargate universe or any of the concepts of characters from it. I’m just borrowing it to play and making no profit from this.
Part One Part Two
~~~~~~~~~~
The actual review process took longer than she wanted, but was far shorter than it had any right to be. Everyone seemed to understand her need to get down to the infirmary and check on the injured scientist herself. Once in the infirmary, however, Caitlin’s nurses shuffled her away for a quick post-mission check up, cleaning new scratches and re-bandaging old. All in all, it was nearly two-and-a-half hours before she broke free of her obligations to go see the woman she cared about, only to find out she was going to need to wait some more.
“Doctor Beckett wanted to check on a couple more things,” was all the nurse would tell her, escorting her over to what passed as the waiting area.
Forty-five minutes later and Jill was getting anxious. She had seen the obvious injuries, and suspected a couple more, but could not think of anything that would take quite so long to slap a band aid on and let her in. Actually, she could think of one thing, but was actively trying not to.
Finally, Beckett appeared. “She’s okay. Yes, you can see her, but not until after you hear what I have to say,” Caitlin said in short order, holding up a hand to stop Sheppard from taking off right away.
“How bad?” was all Jill was able to grit out, squirming in her seat.
“Mostly bruised, but a few cuts as well, nothing too serious though,” Beckett assured her. She glanced down at her notes, a gesture both knew was a stalling tactic. “It looks like the scarring from her previous encounter with the Genii was reopened and, from the sound of it, Koyla’s the one who had the pleasure of doing it. You didn’t happen to find and shoot the bastard, did you?”
Jill’s blood was simmering just at the name, let alone the image of that man having his hands on Mer. “No, I didn’t,” she said with disgust. “I checked with Major Lorne and neither she nor her men found any sign of him. We heard him on a radio, so we know he was there, but...”
Caitlin nodded in understanding. “Well, Meredith certainly remembers him being there, along with some fellow named Ghim, and she’s not quite so fond of the memories,” she warned. “From what I can glean, they were experimenting with some new technology they wanted her to work on, so they kept any physical damage to a minimum. However, it looks like it may have been related to the Ancient gene and their own form of gene therapy, so they took quite a bit of her blood for testing.”
Jill took a moment to process that before asking the question foremost on her mind. “Is she okay?”
“She will be,” Beckett promised. Her words were tinged with both concern and warning, but spoken with a surety that spoke of her friend’s fortitude and ability to withstand far more than she ever thought she needed to.
“Can I?” Jill asked, motioning towards the curtain she knew her lover lay behind.
“Yes.” Caitlin stood back to let Jill at her, clearly not in the least surprised at how fast she moved. The doctor walked along with her, explaining, “She will stay here for at least tonight but, barring any complications, will be released to her quarters tomorrow or the day after. The familiar surroundings will be best for her, but she is not, under any circumstances, to be allowed back to work in the labs until I give the all clear.”
Sheppard nodded in understanding before pulling back the curtain to reveal her injured partner. She looked a hundred times better and a hundred times worse than Jill could have ever hoped for. The dirt and grime was scrubbed clean, revealing dark bruises on pale skin. Sterile white bandages were wrapped around her arm and several fingers, and an IV was dripping needed nutrients and antibiotics into her clearly weakened body. The nurses must have had a field day with her hair, the still damp curls neatly brushed to within an inch of their life, not a trace of muck or knots to be found. She was also sound asleep, the dark shadows under her eyes attesting to how much the respite was needed.
“You can stay,” Cait answered her unasked question. “She’ll likely sleep all afternoon if not ‘til morning and, if she doesn’t, I can give her something to help with that. She’s exhausted, plain and simple. Aside from the obvious healing, she needs rest most of all.” Beckett turned to eye Jill critically before adding, “As do you.”
Sheppard sat heavily in the chair provided, wiping a hand across her face before gingerly reaching out to grasp Mer’s hand. McKay twitched slightly in her sleep, but her body seemed to recognize the touch, swollen fingers tightening in response. Jill looked up to see the doctor backing away from the area to give them some privacy and found there was one more question she needed to ask. “Was she...?” she started, but the words choked in her throat.
Caitlin lowered her eyes and bit her lip before taking a deep breath and declaring, “It’s not my place to tell you, and you know that.”
Jill fought back the tears that found their way to her eyes. Tears of gratitude for her lover’s return, tears of grief for what she was forced to endure, she honestly did not know, no longer able to separate out her own emotions. She lowered her forehead to their joined hands, whispering, “You’re home, baby, you’re home. That’s all that matters; you’re home.”
She awoke hours later to find a heavy hand tangled in the short strands of her hair with McKay muttering, “I love you too, you sap.” A quick readjustment into a more comfortable position, and both dozed off once more.
~~~
The next day featured a lot of visitors, a lot of forced smiling, and a lot of denial. Finally, after Ronon had scared off the last of the well-wishers, Jill turned to Mer and asked, “Are you ready to blow this joint?”
Mer’s eyes grew wide and, for a moment, she thought she was going to refuse to leave the safety the isolation of the infirmary provided. Instead, in a voice still slightly scratchy from her ordeal, the scientist pleaded, “Oh, please say you are not kidding.”
Jill smiled, tucking a wayward curl behind Mer’s ear, saying, “Nope, not kidding.”
McKay tore off the covers and stuffed her feet in the fuzzy little slippers at the side of the bed. She shook as she fully stood the first time on her own, but her voice was strong as she ordered, “Get me out of this fishbowl before I’m forced to smack the next person who looks at me with pity.”
“I’ll smack them for you,” Ronon offered, pushing up a wheelchair.
“As will I,” Teyla chimed in from behind him.
Meredith smiled at the offers, but frowned when she noticed what her friends brought with them. “I’m not going in that,” she swore, crossing her arms in front of her and leaning slightly back against the bed to steady herself.
“Yes, you are,” all three of her teammates replied, striking identical positions.
“Freedom for a chair,” Jill tempted in a singsong voice.
Mer glared, but relented with a huffed, “Fine.” She threw herself down into the chair, trying to hide a slight wince at the movement before tucking her feet up on the little shelf thingies provided. “Can we go now? Before the shepherdess decides to change her mind and keep me here against my will?”
A throat cleared on the other side of the bed, signaling the presence of a less than amused Doctor Beckett. “Just for that...” she began, but stopped when she saw her friend’s crestfallen face. She shook her head with a wry grin. “You’re lucky that I like ye,” she teased with a purposefully strong accent.
“Conditions?” Jill prompted, trying to get the show on the road, and Mer back to something more comforting and familiar.
“Right,” Caitlin said, resetting her thoughts and regaining her professional demeanor. “The good Doctor McKay is to return once a day to have her dressings looked at and to make sure she is healing right and proper. I want her to eat a minimum of three real meals a day consisting of something more than Power Bars and to actually get some rest. There will be no sneaking down to play with reactors or whatever you do in your lab until I say so and then it will be light duty until you whine too much for me to stand. There will be no off world missions until you have at least one session with Heightmeyer, and more if he insists. If you prefer, I can try to find a female therapist. I can only think of one offhand, Doctor Hildebrader, she just came on the Daedalus and I believe she’s booked up for a bit but willing to make an exception if needed.”
“Anything else?” Mer asked impatiently, making a show of looking towards the door even though Jill had caught her panicked look at the mention of seeing a therapist.
“Yes,” Beckett replied, used to the behavior. “I want you to take all of your pills, let me know if even the slightest thing seems off, and actually follow my directions for a change.” The last was said looking at Sheppard, knowing the Colonel was on unofficial nursemaid duties for the time being and trusting her more than the patient to advise her if anything actually needed attention.
Mer waved a hand in the air, the closest she would ever come to capitulation. “Yes, fine, whatever. Can I go?”
Cait seemed to think about it for a moment before relenting. “Aye, off with ye,” she agreed, tucking her notepad under her arm. “But expect me to come hunt you down if you don’t show up as ordered.”
“Deal, whatever, bye!” McKay called out, reaching down to push the chair by the wheels herself if she had to. It was a task made much easier when Ronon released the break and backed her away from the bed.
As they passed, Cait grabbed Jill by the elbow, pulling her close. “She’s going to need you for a bit,” she warned.
“Kind of expected that,” Sheppard told her, watching the others near the doorway.
“Don’t push,” Beckett added.
“Like that’s ever worked with her,” Jill countered, earning a small smile. “Anything else?”
Cait nodded, releasing her grip and patting her on the shoulder. “Thank you for bringing her home.”
Jill raised an eyebrow at her, saying, “There was no other option.”
As she walked away, she heard Beckett mutter more to herself than to anyone else, “No, there really wasn’t, was there?”
~~~
Ronon and Teyla made certain that Mer was settled in her own room before leaving with the promise of returning for the evening meal. They were as subtle as a jackhammer, but Jill appreciated the gesture and the gift of the very first time truly alone with McKay since they returned.
Mer was already yawning, shuffling towards the bed after a quick look around her room to make sure everything was where she left it. She sat down heavily, kicked off her slippers, and flopped to the side, eyes drifting shut. They opened slowly with a critical glare. “Smells different,” she accused. She buried her head in the pillow before turning to look at Sheppard once more as she tucked up her feet. “Smells like you.”
Jill scratched at her already wild hair, hanging her head a bit as she admitted, “I may have possibly stayed here... for a while...”
She looked up to see a fond expression on her lover’s face. “Come here, you sap,” Mer directed, patting the mattress beside her. Jill did not need to be asked twice, kicking off her boots, draping her holster over a chair, and laying down behind her, pulling up the blankets to cover them both.
She turned to her side, reaching out a hesitant hand to wrap around Mer, but stopped before she made contact. “Is this...?” she started. She swallowed, mind racing with the possibility that her touch might not be wanted; not now and not for a while, if ever again. “Can I...?”
“Please?” Mer asked, taking her hand in her bandaged own and pulling it across her. A few minor adjustments to get herself settled, and the injured woman added, “I’m not broken, you know.”
“You sure about that?” Jill asked, feeling those damned tears threatening again. She blinked several times to hold them back, not willing to give herself away by swiping at them.
Mer’s grip on her arm tightened as she yanked her closer. “I’m hurt, yeah, but not broken. They tried but, like the dumbasses they are, they failed.” She paused for a moment before taking a deep breath. Jill could almost picture her composing herself before she continued, “I went through something that truly and utterly sucked and is going to stay with me for a while. There’s going to be nightmares and I’m probably going to be skittish around people, and even more of a bitch than usual, but it will get better because it sure as hell can’t get worse.”
Jill buried her nose in Mer’s curls, muttering, “But you shouldn’t have had to.”
“And we shouldn’t live in a galaxy with life-sucking vampires, but we do,” came the retort.
McKay idly stroked her hand, the bandages from the infirmary catching the small hairs of her skin, but she didn’t mind. She squirmed infinitesimally closer, fanning her hand across the softness of the scrubs Mer still wore, feeling the warmth of her body beneath. She breathed deeply, beyond the soap and shampoo the nurses used, finding the scent she missed so much.
“I thought about you every day,” Mer’s voice broke the silence. She sounded hesitant, as if she shouldn’t be admitting it. “I dreamed of you swooping in with a grand rescue, taking out all of those assholes. I had a particularly satisfying scenario planned for Koyla. Each night, when they locked me back in that cell - which they stole from some other planet by the way, being too stupid to come up with something like it themselves – I’d think of you. Your hands. Your voice. Your stupid hair. I’d think of you holding me, just like this, and I’d finally fall asleep.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” Jill started, hearing her own voice crack.
She expected some sort of crack about her weaknesses, but instead only heard, “I’m not.” McKay craned her neck to look over her shoulder, something that had to be uncomfortable, but for once did not complain. “If you were there, who would come rescue me?”
Jill raised herself up on an elbow to gaze down into earnest, if tired, blue eyes. “Who’s the sap now?” the teased, stealing a quick kiss to take the sting out of her words.
“You for bawling and trying to hide it from me?” Mer guessed with the hint of a grin. She flipped over completely, almost successfully hiding a grimace as she snuggled up against her lover’s chest. “I missed you,” she whispered.
Sheppard pressed a kiss to the curls under her chin. “I missed you too,” she admitted. She hooked both arms around her and held her close. “You know, we’re pretty lucky,” she mused.
Mer sat up at that, and elbow digging painfully into a ribcage as she asked in bewilderment, “Lucky? What are you, insane?” She made a show of checking Jill’s forehead for fever and any exposed skin for injury. “We live in a strange galaxy light-years from home, short on power and supplies, dealing with space vampires and overzealous farmers with Armageddon tendencies and you think we’re lucky?”
Sheppard pulled her back down against her, saying, “Yeah, I do.” Satisfied she was settled and was not about to damage any more internal organs, she continued, “Because, for now at least, we’re safe, we’re sound, we’re home, and we have each other.”
“Well, when you put it that way...” McKay mock grumbled, tilting her head up for a kiss.
“I love you,” Jill said as they separated. “I may not say it often enough, but I really do.”
Mer squeezed her tighter and Sheppard felt something suspiciously wet soak through her shirt. “I love you too,” she eventually replied. She sniffed before adding, “Even if you have stupid hair.”
Jill grinned, listening as her lover’s breaths evened out and she drifted off to sleep. Staring up at the ceiling, she thought about the past few days, the past few years, spent with this one wonderfully annoying woman. They faced danger on a regular basis, but through it all, one thing remained: they did it together. She closed her eyes with a final thought of, “Yeah, lucky.”
End.
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