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

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

[continued from here]

It was a pleasant surprise to glance over and see Todd asleep on the bed, relaxed and peaceful. He can't have gotten much quality rest the night before propped up in the chair as he had been, certainly not when he'd been woken by her nightmare. She hoped that didn't happen again tonight, he had important things to take care of tomorrow; she didn't know all of the details, but with a civil war going on between his people, he needed his wits about him.

To that end, Rogue forced herself to stay awake for hours into the night, eating the dinner he'd brought for her and looking through one of the books from the collection he'd shown her before their sparring session. She didn't recognize anything on the pages, but it gave her a topic for conversation with the voices in her head, providing ample entertainment to pass the time. Eventually she fell asleep herself, the book held carefully to her chest as she curled up in the armchair, her boots set on the floor beside it. It was a fairly deep sleep, and she didn't dream for one of the first times in many weeks, something she was eternally grateful for when she awoke.

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With that, they made their way down to the sparring arena. Tonight, everyone was on duty, taking their rest, or going to get something to eat, so they had the place to themselves for once.

He started out on the offensive, though as usual being careful that whenever he did land a hit it wouldn't be too damaging, but let her go all out as she liked.

"What do you think of the queen?" he asked "Your honest opinion" he added, dodging a blow to the kneecap.

It was a bit strange to be the only ones in the arena, but as they got into things she didn't even notice the lack of an audience.

"My honest opinion?" she repeated, ducking to the right to avoid a blow to her side. "I like her." It was the truth. The more time she'd spent with the queen, the more Rogue's opinion of her had grown. "I think she'll be good for this hive, and for the alliance. She seems willing to try things and accept change, where older queens might not. You need that right now."

"Definitely true, most queens I feel-" he ducked as she took a swipe at his face "-Would not wish to go into hibernation just to stave off-" another dodge "-Hunger until we reached our destination. Preferring to feed when necessary even though we're trying to move away from it."

Todd took a blow to the ribs and struck out, missing her. "I'm glad you and she have become as friendly as you have. At this rate-" he grinned "She might kick me out and appoint you commander instead"

Rogue couldn't help but laugh at that. "I did the being in charge thing for a while," she said as she feinted back to avoid another strike. "I kinda like not having the pressure. She'll just have to keep you around."

She misjudged a bit of distance in trying to avoid his next move and ended up flat on her back, the breath knocked clean out of her. As she gasped to pull air into her lungs, she managed to sputter out a joking, "For now."

"Is that a threat?" Todd purred, leaning down to look at her "Should I sleep with a knife from now on?"

He did anyway, when he slept in his coat. Years of betrayal by his shipmates had taught him you could never be too careful.

Being commander was a very stressful job. While Queens had the final say, you ran everything. It was like being mayor of a city and you had to double check everyone's work from the plumbers to the power station. Todd was only as good as he was at it thanks to doing it for so long. Most commanders didn't have half the rank time he'd logged.

"Only if you want to give me nightmares about the bed popping," she grumbled with a hint of a smirk, rolling onto her side so she could start the process of getting on her feet again. It was a bit more difficult than usual when her lungs were burning.

Rogue was the one person Todd would never have to worry about being betrayed by. Her loyalty, once earned, would only be lost if he did something beyond horrible to herself or those she cared about, and that just wasn't Todd's style. His actions were purposeful, and he considered all angles before making decisions. She appreciated the effort and skill behind his position.

"Popping?" he cocked his head, then chuckled, "It's not filled with anything." he stated. "It's more like..." he tried to think of a good way to describe it. "Like a bowl of that blue gelatin we had on Atlantis...Jell-O. Though far more dense and unable to be sliced by a knife...and I imagine far less delicious." he elaborated.

He allowed her to catch her breath, the bruises she'd managed to inflict on him were already healing.

A Jell-O bed. That wasn't an association she would have made before. And now she couldn't get the image of sleeping on a pile of Jell-O out of her head.

"On Earth, we have waterbeds that are literally filled with water," she told him, explaining where her comment had come from. "They were really popular a few decades before the time I come from. They're also notorious for sprouting leaks. I knew your bed wasn't filled with water, but I never asked what was inside it."

Getting her feet under her and straightening up fully, she winced and put a hand to her head, the other reaching out to grab his arm as she swayed slightly. "Sorry," she murmured. "Just got a little dizzy."

Wraith often compared things to their food, before it was humans now...Jell-O.

Obviously humans needed to come up with a new material to hold the water within the bed if they wished to continue making them. Otherwise it seemed like a waste.

Todd caught her without a problem. "Did you hit your head?" he asked, wondering if he'd struck her down a little too hard that last time.

Rogue was quiet for a moment, thinking, and then shook her head slightly without thinking - it wasn't a good idea. "No, I don't think so," she answered, her expression tight around the edged. "I do have a bit of a headache, but I thought it was just from being tired."

Perhaps that was the dizziness as well. She'd been keeping odd schedules for sleeping lately, maybe not getting all the rest she should for her human body. It was hard to remember to take proper care of herself when she was surrounded by wraith who had very different needs for things like sleep and food consumption.

"Very well" he nodded, deciding to call it a night. "Perhaps its best you rest." he suggested, leading her out of the arena.

He didn't want to give her the enzyme to fix this. It was painful and inconvenient but wasn't life-threatening like before when Cody had struck her. He'd make sure Keller or Beckett gave them a supply of pain meds.

"Sorry to cut things short," she apologized on the way back to his quarters. "Sometimes my humanness can be really inconvenient." They'd been having fun, getting to spend some quality time together, and she felt like she'd messed that up.

She wouldn't have agreed to using the enzyme even if he had offered it. The risks were too great to just use it whenever she felt a little off her game, and it wouldn't be good for her to become dependent on it.

Another chuff, he was fine with it, and they had nearly a week to themselves. Not so bad.

He closed the door behind them, telling the helmsman to notify him when they reached the planet with a Stargate on it. He worked his clothes off, able to relax a bit more now that he knew there'd be no rush to get up at a moment's notice.

"We'll be sure to tell the doctors to provide us with pain killers for moments like this." he said, setting his boots aside.

"Thank you," she said with a fond smile as she slowly undressed herself, pulling on her set of pajamas because they were comforting. Now that the adrenaline from the sparring match was wearing off, her headache was getting stronger, and she was eager to lay down.

"Are you worried about what will happen with the queen and the gene therapy?" she asked him quietly, the mention of the doctors on Atlantis reminding her of the earlier discussions on the topic.

He paused a moment in undressing, then resumed before answering, "What will be will be. There's nothing we can do but hope that the serum works on her, and if it doesn't, that its effects are reversible before it kills her. In the event it doesn't, and she dies, then we'll have to go raiding enemy hives for their queens to continue testing the serum on as none of the other queens in the alliance will agree to take it unless its perfected."

Todd knew such a task was next to impossible, and he'd be sure to bring up the risk of the queen's death thoroughly with Woolsey and the rest. Upgrading the hive would not be enough, Atlantis would have to aid in retrieving queens and females to experiment on.

Oh. Rogue hadn't expected that addition to the plan, had missed it if it was mentioned earlier and now... it sort of blindsided her a bit. The idea of taking queens from other hives to experiment on didn't sit well with her, not after the things she'd seen done in her world during the war, but if it came to it, then she could see the necessity for such measures. But understanding it didn't mean she liked it.

"Let's just hope everything goes well as it can, then," she said after a short pause, choosing not to address her opinions on the plan and its contingencies.

While the Wraith might be learning what compassion was, an enemy was an enemy, even one of their own. And as none of the other queens were going to volunteer, it was better to take those that would rather die before giving up the ability to feed.

He too hoped things would go well, but as history showed, most subjects tested with the serum died before it was perfected. He only lived because of the iratus bug...

"In the event the serum does take a turn for the worse, I think I may have a solution to undo the serum and try again." he said. "I managed to undo my mistake with the first gene thereby test by allowing an-" he looked around and retrieved his portable screen from the desk, joining her in bed and showing her a picture of a very ugly black insect. "An iratus bug queen to feed on me and draw out the serum."

Rogue's expression was inquisitive when he first mentioned having a solution, but it quickly turned into something twisted by disgust and distaste when he showed her the picture.

"That looks extremely unpleasant," she voiced while frowning at the screen, but she didn't look away. She'd seen worse, and it was just an image after all, but if she were to encounter the thing in person there were no guarantees that she'd be able to keep her cool. The thing was gross. "But if it worked for you, then it's definitely an option worth trying if things don't go well for the queen."

"Its quite painful, but effective...For the most part." he grunted, putting the tablet aside and settling into bed. "We haven't always had our healing abilities, that developed over time. Prior to that, when a wraith became gravely ill, that was the treatment. However, its dangerous, there's only a fifty-fifty chance of the wraith surviving if an iratus bug is allowed to latch on. But considering its a last ditch effort to get well, one has little to lose. And the queen is far stronger than I am so in the event the serum doesn't work on her, the old solution for a cure should up her chances of survival."

Not by much, but still, it was worth the risk.

"We should arrive at a Stargate tomorrow, if the same planet has the insect on it then we'll catch one while we're there, otherwise we'll send a team through the gate to a world we know is inhabited by them."

The more he spoke of how the treatment worked, the more glad Rogue was that she was human. She could understand the desperation that came when one was close to death, but the idea of one of those things latching on and potentially killing someone who was sick was just... No, she was incredibly glad to be human in that moment, headaches and all.

"Just keep it far away from me when you catch one please," she requested, moving closer to him and curling up beneath the blankets. Her expression was still a little pinched, but being horizontal was helping a bit with the persistent ache.

He nodded with a grin. "Will do."

Todd settled against her, fingers caressing her arm to help her take her mind off her aching head and get some rest.

He woke before she did, spooned against Rogue's back, arm wrapped around her middle. He rarely moved in the night but occasionally his unconscious mind must crave the warmth and solid form of another nearby. The commander didn't shift about too much, unsure if Rogue was awake yet and not wanting to disturb her if she wasn't. She'd been under a lot of stress these past few days, best she sleep it off.

The caresses did the trick, the smooth repetitive motions having a calming, soothing effect that eased her into sleep before too long. She stayed asleep for a while after Todd woke, not bothered at all when he moved a bit, but when she did wake, it wasn't pleasant.

Rogue's waking consisted of gasping her way to conscious, fear and panic clutching at her mind even as she clutched at Todd's arm, not to push it away but to keep it close. Her powers didn't even flicker - even in sleep, she'd known he was there beside her, and felt protected by his presence. She shook as she struggled to catch her breath, the memories turned to dreams clinging to her the way shadows clung to the corners of a room.

Todd was a bit startled by her sudden pull to consciousness, still not quite used to such jarring awakenings, but didn't reject the grip or chuff in annoyance. He continued to hold onto her, giving her a point of reality to lock onto as she hauled herself from whatever nightmares she'd been having.

"Be calm." he rumbled in her ear. "You're safe. Nothing can harm you."

With his arm around her and his voice in her ear, it was easier for Rogue to remember where she was, the shaking calming enough for her to turn in his grasp and hide her face against his shoulder, breathing in the scent of him.

"I was dreaming about my team," she told him quietly, her voice worn and stretched thin. "About what the battle that led to me ending up here."

Todd allowed her to turn around and face him, shifting his arm to rest his hand on her waist instead.

Ah, right before they met. He never really did get a detailed account of what happened that night.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked, curious, but also wondering if it would help clam her.

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