Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Easy! Easy," Evan hissed, catching Sheppard's tac vest.

"I know where he is. They're going to hurt him. They've been threatening him. I -" Sheppard's gaze went distant, and Evan knew he was accessing Rodney's mind via the silver cord.

"Sir," Evan said, "I need you to slow down. We can't just walk into a rogue Genii stronghold like -"

Sheppard lunged forward, unseeing.

Evan tightened his grip on Sheppard's vest, and Sheppard came up short. He twisted in Evan's grip like an angry kitten, spitting angrily and just as weak.

"Sir," Evan said again, but Sheppard was lost in his own mind. Or Rodney's. Evan sighed. Then he nodded for Ronon, Teyla, and Stevens to come closer. They broke out of formation, leaving Walker and Coughlin and Reed to watch their six. "Look, Sheppard's compromised. I'm officially relieving him of command of this mission. Teyla, you remain second-in-command of AR-1. Stevens, you're in command of AR-3, but I'm mission lead till we have physical custody of McKay. Questions?"

"What is wrong with John?" Teyla asked.

"He's linked up with Rodney and not really seeing straight." Evan grimaced. He had no idea how he could possibly spin this for his AAR. Later, though. "He's our eyes and ears on what's happening to Rodney, but he's in no state to lead this op. Ronon, watch him."

Stevens nodded and ducked back into formation with the rest of Evan's team. Ronon took over Evan's grip on Sheppard's vest.

"All right, sir, where to?" Evan asked.

Sheppard pointed to the squat cement building across the clearing. No way was Evan crossing that kind of open ground. Sheppard protested when Evan started to skirt along the tree line, but Ronon murmured something that kept him quiet.

When they reached the building, Sheppard snapped back to lucidity.

"Lorne," he said, "break down the door."

It made sense to have Evan go first. After all, he was basically bullet-proof, if not pain proof.

Breaking down a door wasn't as easy as it looked on TV. Unless you were inhuman. Evan kicked it in, heard cries of alarm, and stepped into the room, weapons raised.

One of the Genii soldiers swore and fired, clipped Evan in the shoulder. Evan ignored the pain, fired back. And then Sheppard was behind him, rifle blazing.

Once all the hostile were down, Sheppard crossed the room. Myriad expressions crossed his face. Evan could read them all - worry, fear, irritation, impatience. Like one side of a wordless conversation. Sheppard knelt and tugged aside a rug, and there was a massive steel trap door. Evan lifted it, and once again he took point down the stairs.

"You'd think the Genii would have learned by now," Ronon muttered when one of them shot Evan and Evan barely flinched. (Being shot hurt like hell, but he was used to pushing through the pain, and not just because he was a soldier.)

"They never learn," Sheppard snarled, and then Evan was kicking in the last door, and Rodney was bound and gagged on a chair.

Sheppard went straight to him, cut through the ropes and hauled Rodney to his feet, crushed him close in a desperate embrace. They separated a fraction, looking at each other, checking each other over for wounds, wordless. And then they kissed, and they went still, and Evan knew they were lost in each other's minds.

Evan sighed. "Guess I'm back in command. Ronon, you take Sheppard. Teyla, you take McKay. I don't want to hang around here any longer than necessary." He toggled his radio for his team. "You still got the gate?"

"Yes, sir," Stevens said. "You got the doc?"

"Package is secure. Exfil in ten." Evan nodded at Teyla and Ronon. "Let's go."

Back on the jumper, Evan had to pilot because Sheppard and McKay were still tangled in each other's heads, curled close on the back bench and not saying a word.

Sheppard didn't come back to lucidity till McKay was safely in the infirmary with Beckett looking him over. Evan gave a brief verbal report to Elizabeth, then went to shed his tac gear and take a shower. While he was under the water, he tried to think up all the oblique ways to describe Sheppard going into a mind-meld with his soulmate. He'd just about settled on writing that Sheppard had assumed tracking and surveillance duties and let Evan assume command when the locker room door opened.

Evan turned, startled, because no other teams were supposed to report back any time soon, but Ronon was shedding his clothes and stepping under the shower spray, and Sheppard and McKay weren't the only ones who could speak without words.