fateandfortune | Just two vampires, traveling the galaxy... [For Todd the Wraith]

A chuff and a nod. He appreciated that. "Get some rest, I'll see you tomorrow morning" he said and returned to his room to sleep himself.

Todd had gotten used to the other in his room, and without her these days, it made falling asleep strangely more difficult. Coupled with thinking over everything that could go wrong might go wrong, he didn't sleep a wink. Eventually he realized it was hopeless and he got up. He made his rounds early, checking and rechecking things as the ships dropped out of hyper space one by one. Two were still missing, including the one with his potential queen on it but they weren't due to arrive for another hour, so he went to see Rogue.

Rogue's night had been much the same as Todd's, and though she did eventually manage to drift off, her sleep was filled with some of the worst nightmares in her collection. She'd woken in tears once, and again with a silent scream on her lips, and had finally just given up on the effort entirely.

She was rereading the beginning chapters of The Count of Monte Cristo, the ones they'd already finished, when Todd arrived. The familiar and beloved book had done at least a little to soothe her nerves, though she knew she probably looked a complete wreck from the restless night. But one good thing had come about during those long hours - her eyes had returned to normal, though they were redder than usual and itched from the lack of sleep.

"Looks as though you got as much sleep as I did" he chuckled, then tapped the corner of his eye and pointed to her. "Back to normal in less than twenty four hours. Not bad." he said

His gaze drifted to the book in her hand then back to her, "Will we read more tonight?" he asked

As he'd gone about his duties for the morning, he'd come to a solid conclusion he wished he'd come to last night to avoid the sleeplessness. That was simply, the worst case scenario was that the potential queen would find him unworthy and he'd have to search for another. That was all.

She glanced down at the book and then back to him with a small smile. "I'd like that," she told him, sincerely meaning it. Their reading sessions were some of her favorite times spent with him, for the sheer feeling of companionship it gave her. Not that she didn't enjoy Todd's company all the time, but when she read to him she felt like she was doing something for him, and it filled a need she hadn't realized she'd had before they began the practice.

"Still nervous, then?" she asked, concerned for him. She didn't remark on his comment about her eyes - they could address that later, once all of this was over.

"Perhaps a little" he grunted with a slight shrug, looking around her rather bare quarters then back to her.

"Why do you care?" he asked. It wasn't accusatory. He was genuinely curious as to why she seemed to consider him before herself.

Keller or Beckett he could understand, they were doctors. But Rogue...he wasn't sure.

It was such a strange question from her perspective. She'd always cared about others, constantly putting them before herself. Her students, her teammates, total strangers who needed her help. It was what she did, and she'd do just about anything for the people she held dearest. Todd had earned a place on that list long ago.

"Because I consider you my friend," she answered easily, her eyes on his. "More than that, really. You're important to me, so of course I care." There was little he could do that would ever stop her caring.

The wraith smiled at that, thrumming quietly.

Rogue might not be a queen, but she was certainly worthy of being one in his book, as Sheppard was his brother.

Remembering Teyla's greeting and good bye to those she cared about, he decided to mimic it. He stepped closer to Rogue, rested a hand on her shoulder and leaned in, pressing his forehead ever so briefly against her own.

He said no more to Rogue before leaving her as his second summoned him to the bridge to meet up with the commanders.

Todd couldn't possibly have any idea the affect that simple action would have on Rogue. Casual touch wasn't something they shared often, everything physical between them focused on training or sparring. He couldn't know how much it would mean to her to have him make such a gesture, to be that close for even a moment. It settled something in her, calming her nerves and smoothing over the stress of the past day.

Everything would be alright. She could believe that now.

She settled back to read a little while longer, eventually falling asleep with the book on her chest. Her slumber was much more peaceful this time around.

Casual gestures like that were rare among wraith, usually only exchanged between those closest to one another. It was, indeed, quite the gesture.

The day was long and much among the commanders was discussed despite the fact they'd met relatively recently.

Todd delivered the unfortunate news that a serum had not yet been created to work on the drones but he assured them that upon his return to Atlantis he'd not leave until a gene therapy for them was solidified.

The serum that he'd brought was passed out among them evenly. More would come but it would take time. In the meantime, he suggested that they seek among their worshipers one that knows the art of cooking and let them teach the ranks under the new diet how to do it themselves. A couple thought it strange. After all, why not make the worshipers prepare their meals? While the obvious answer was they didn't want slaves on board the ship, keeping humans on board a hive, especially multiple ones, would entail a far larger pantry than any they could conceivably hold. And they were trying to pull away from being dependent on humans, from making their meals to becoming them.

Besides, he assured them, it was not as easy as it seemed. And they took that on as a challenge. The more difficult a task was, the more likely the wraith would want to do it.

As the day wound down, the final subject of the potential queen came up. The news was...unpleasant to say the least, but didn't let it show.

When the last of the commanders hives jumped into subspace, and they did as well, Todd gathered the heads of his crew together to relay what he'd learned and their plans going forward before returning to Rogue's room.

When she answered the door, a wave of despair seemed to radiate off him.

Edited 2015-12-20 07:00 (UTC)

After her nap, Rogue had spent much of the day meditating or doing her taiji forms. She missed their sparring sessions and the exhilaration she'd gotten from the physicality of it. Taiji wasn't anywhere near the same, but it was the only exercise she could manage with her injury, so she'd take it.

When Todd returned, she immediately registered that something was off. She spent a good part of each day with this man, she'd have to be blind to miss the anguish that clung to him.

"What happened?" she asked quickly, feeling like a weight was pressing on her chest, making it difficult to breathe. "Did something go wrong?" The only thing she could think was it was something to do with his potential queen, nothing else could cause this sort of reaction. Nothing that she knew of. And if it had to do with the queen, it couldn't be good.

"The potential queen was killed." he answered, stepping inside when she let him in.

He took a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing.

"She attempted to assassinate the queen-her mother-and take over the throne. Before maturity. Foolish..."

Intense rage quickly replaced the despair and all of a sudden he struck out and punched the wall with a snarl. "Of all the selfish, imbecilic ideas a young wraith could come up with! She goes and gets herself killed by one she knows is more powerful than her! I'd revive her only to slit her throat again for her lunacy if I could!" he continued to beat the wall with every insult he could dump on the the dead female.

It was clear that of all the scenarios that had kept him awake last night, this was not one he could have even touched upon consideration.

Rogue flinched when he lashed out, not from fear but for the pain she felt for him. She'd never thought of this happening either. If the potential queen had simply disliked him or favored someone else, that was easy enough to deal with. But this? The impact wasn't only for Todd, but for their entire species. She knew how rare females were right now, how important a future queen had been to all of the ships without them. And now she was gone, and they would have to wait so much longer for another.

Tears filled her eyes as she watched him, spilling over as the insults continued. Her heart broke for him, because she knew under all that anger was still an intense pain that she could do nothing to erase.

She couldn't stop herself from going to him, though, reaching out and touching his shoulder. "Todd, stop," she pleaded with him, her voice tight and broken with emotion. "Please."

Todd nearly struck at her, but as though her touch were sapping him of his anger, he quickly dropped his fist, rage subsiding to irritation and then to a blank and empty feeling.

He drew in and blew out a shuddering breath to calm himself. The commander didn't look at her for a long time, perhaps ashamed of his outburst. But, eventually he did look to her.

"We've been without a queen for so long." he sighed. "What's another decade or so?" he added dryly.

She wasn't afraid in the moment he seemed about to hit her. It wasn't that she thought he wouldn't do it, but more that she understood it wouldn't be intentional. That wasn't Todd's way, especially not with her.

Rogue would rather he have hit her than to see him deflate as he did. Anger she could deal with, sorrow too, but emptiness was so much more difficult. It pervaded everything and was hard to shake, she knew that very well.

"It's everything," she countered, tears still staining her cheeks. "You have every right to be upset. I'm so sorry for your loss." She wanted to embrace him, to comfort him during this awful time, she just didn't think he would accept it. But she couldn't do nothing, she didn't have it in her, so she did reach out, moving to set a gloved hand along the curve of his jaw. If he would let her.

Todd realized a few minutes too late that she'd been crying.

He didn't understand, why should she be upset? He'd not lashed out at her, in fact the lack of a queen in the near future meant she'd still have a home on the hive. She should be happy, or relieved at least. But as his senses cleared and he picked up on her own, he found that that was not the case.

You are my friend.

Instead of jerking away or even tensing at the touch, he closed his eyes, and accepted it.

It meant the world to her that he didn't reject her touch, both from the perspective that they didn't have that casual closeness, but also because so many had in the past. It made her ache inside, for the both of them.

Of course a small part of her was relieved that she would continue to have a home on his ship, but she'd barely spared a second to think along those lines. Her focus was on Todd, on the pain he was feeling and what this loss meant to him. To his crew.

"I'm so sorry," she repeated quietly, keeping her hand on his jaw. "I can't even imagine what you're going through right now. If there was something I could do to make this easier for you, I would." She would do anything to ease the pain of the situation for him.

Edited 2015-12-20 08:32 (UTC)

"You've done plenty." he assured her, feeling better as the minutes ticked on in the presence of her calm and sympathetic mind.

He'd been an idiot himself truth be told. He ought not be upset over this female's death. It just meant she was never strong enough to be a queen. Now or a few years from now, made no difference, all queens that had taken the throne before they'd begun to feed, while few and far between, never had a long reign thanks to their impulsive ways.

Todd realized something as well now.

If need be, he'd fight to keep Rogue on board. She was a fixed point he needed in his life, and she needed a home. Both benefited, and both needed one another.

She gave him a small smile at that and nodded slightly, dropping her hand from his jaw but not stepping away. Being close to him was comforting, and she'd savor it for as long as she could.

"So what now?" she asked him gently, hoping it wasn't too soon after what he'd just experienced. Did this mean they just had to wait for however long? It seemed like such an awful fate for these people who had come to mean so much to her. She had her favorites among his crew, of course, but she cared for all of them and would protect them with her life if it came to it, just as she had with her team. It didn't matter that she suspected they might not do the same.

She reached up with a hand to brush at the spots on her face that felt wet and slightly sticky from the salty tears. The emotional rollercoaster of the last short while had her feeling worn out, but her focus was still fully on him.

"Well, if you mean by literally, I think dinner would be appropriate." The stress of the day had worn him down leaving little but his hunger.

"In general...We'll have to wait and see. The commanders said they'd do what they can about recruiting other hive ships and getting their queens to produce females. In the meantime, we're going to make our patrols through our territory, check on the worshiper world, another check with the commanders, and then back to Atlantis. The serum for the drones has to be completed as soon as possible and by then Keller and Beckett will have had those we left with them on the drug for a reasonable amount of time."

It seemed like a busy schedule but this would be over a period of several weeks to months, as predicted.

"It's a lot to do," she commented, giving him a brighter smile than before. "I guess we'd better have a damn good dinner, to make sure we start things off right."

At the back of her thoughts, she'd already been contemplating what to make that night. She didn't know how the rest of the crew was handling the disappointment of the day, but she didn't imagine they were overwhelmingly happy about it. They'd been so long without a Queen...

So comfort food it would be. Mashed potatoes and gravy, roasted vegetables, and roast beef. Brownies for dessert, made with the darkest chocolate they had and flavored with coffee to temper the slight sweetness of the chocolate. It was all the sort of food that said home to her, that was filling and warm and left you feeling just a little bit better after a hard day. She hoped it would do the same for everyone else on board, that she could help them in this small way.

They all enjoyed the meal, and the dessert too very much indeed. There'd been a definite air of disappointment when they arrived but after clean up and as they left, they certainly looked in better spirits.

During dinner, they spoke of everything from the meal itself, to the engineers finally working out a way to make showers work on the hive, to the younger wraith on board the hive and how their progress with fighting and their chosen professions was coming along.

When the last of the plates had been put away, Todd and Rogue headed back to her chambers, spirits better than they had been in the last couple days, despite the afternoon's poor news.

If there was one thing Rogue had learned growing up in the south, it was the healing powers of food. She was glad that seemed to extend to wraith as well; it helped her urge to look after them all, the way she had her students back at the institute. There was even a little mother-henning in there at times, as she looked after these creatures that were centuries and millennia older than her. None of that made any difference in her mind.

The dinner had really taken it out of her, though. It had been a lot of work to make enough for everyone, and even with her helpers, Rogue had put in extra work at a quick pace to get things done. She considered it worth the renewed sharp ache in her side to have seen the others in such brighter spirits, and to have enjoyed overhearing their conversations.

The pain she was in was likely apparent though, with the way her arm was held close to her left side, her breathing shallower than usual, and her eyes a little tight at the corners. But she was still happy and smiling from the accomplishments of the evening.

"You're in pain again" he observed "Did Doctor Beckett give you any medicine?" he asked. Her injury should have been on its tail end by now, but after today's activity, she might have set herself back a week or so.

Again, the idea of using the enzyme to finish the job came to his mind, but he'd only ask now if Beckett had not provided her with anything to dull the ache.

Edited 2015-12-20 21:42 (UTC)

"He did," she answered with a slight nod, "but it was only a small amount and I've already gone through it. I should have rationed to keep some in case I get sick, but I didn't think of it."

Not that she was expecting to get sick or injured again anytime soon, but you never knew. With only wraith aboard who didn't get sick and healed quickly, she doubted they had any sort of first aid on board.

Todd hesitated, then decided not to beat about the bush anymore and tell her a final option, as there was, indeed, little else on board that would help her.

"There is...another drug you may use." he said. "It will even heal your ribs."

He held up his right hand to show her the feeding slit. "It won't hurt" he assured her "And since you're taking the enzyme with an injury, you won't become addicted to it."

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so much <3

<3

i just adore the way things are progressing

same C:

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