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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He had no powers to give her and therefore she'd never become exhausted from touching him. So the only thing that remained was the original idea that keeping her calm and exposing her often to him.

Todd held up his hand once more. "I think the only way we will make progress is by regular contact. Again." He said.

Thus far, the only time her ability had hurt had been in the arena. The question was would that happen in a casual situation like this or was it limited to when there was no holding back and the adrenaline was running high?

Rogue nodded and once again set her fingers against his hand, studying the way it felt when his energy began flowing into her at that slow, steady rate. A few seconds was all the tried before breaking the contact, rubbing her fingers together to chase away that lingering sensation.

It really did feel... malleable, almost. Like a floodgate that was partway lowered, if she turned the valve just the right way she could block off the tide entirely.

"I'm going to try manipulating it," she told him hesitantly. "Slowing it down even more, trying to stop it completely."

If she was going to put a damper on her power, it couldn't just be at the point of contact, or that would be all that could be controlled. No, she wanted full control of her ability, and that meant she had to focus on her own mind, on that tug she felt within her center whenever her power kicked in.

So as she once again allowed her skin to touch his, she concentrated fully on that pull of power, the thread between them and where it connected to her. She imagined turning that valve, putting her weight behind it to close the gate and stop the exchange. The seconds that passed seemed like an eternity before she finally felt... something. A flicker of change, the strength of the connection wavering, weakening until it was only a tiny trickle.

It was such a surprise that it actually worked that her focus broke and her power flared, that floodgate crashing open and pulling his energy into her with painful force. "Shit!" Rogue jerked her hand away with a grimace and clutched it to her chest. "Are you okay?"

So far, so good. She even wanted to try this on her own without his prompting, a sign that she was getting more confident.

Her fingers settled into his left palm and remained there. The tingle slowly began to decrease! Weakened until it was just barely noticeable. Well done, not bad for-

That sharp yank and pain ripped through his arm like before in the arena and he jerked away the same time she did, claws slicing her palm in the process. He snarled at the pain, gripping his arm, the bone-deep ache that followed flooded through him.

The door room his room opened and the marine stepped in, gun raised and pointed at Todd.

"Back away."

"Calm down" Todd hissed, still gripping his arm.

"Back. Away." he repeated, and Todd complied, knowing better than to test Sheppard's men. He moved as far to the opposite side of the couch he could, both hands raised. The marine noticed his red bloody fingers and looked to Rogue. "Where'd he hurt you ma'am?"

Rogue had forgotten about the marine stationed outside, and was confused for a moment as to what exactly was happening and what the guy waving the gun around was talking about. Then she noticed Todd's hand, the blood on his fingers. How...

A glance down at her own hand answered the question. Oh. Ow. Now that she recognized what had happened, her hand was stinging something fierce, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it should have been. The bleeding was already beginning to slow, and all she could figure was that she'd picked up a little of the Wraith's natural healing speed during the exchange.

"Stand down, Marine," she said in a firm, if annoyed voice. The one she'd used with students, with the teams she had led. "Everything's fine here. It's nothing I didn't ask for."

The marine looked confused by that, but did seem to take a small degree of assurance from her words. Still. "Ma'am, I don't think-"

"I'm not asking for your opinion," she interrupted sharply. It was hard to be intimidating while sitting down, but she seemed to be doing a damned fine job of it if his slightly shocked expressed was anything to go by. "I'm not a resident of Atlantis, and therefore this doesn't concern you or anyone else. It's between me and Todd, even though I know you'll have to report it to Colonel Sheppard."

She felt a little guilty for being so brusque with the man, he was just doing his job, but he seemed to take it in stride. "Yes, ma'am, I will."

"Then go do it," she ordered.

Edited 2015-12-04 19:01 (UTC)

The confused marine tapped his earpiece and returned to his post outside the door, speaking to the colonel as it closed behind him.

Todd relaxed and looked to her. "Closer that time." he grunted, getting up and going to the bathroom. He washed the blood off then returned with a damp towel and a first aid kit he'd found under the sink.

He sat back down, setting the kit between them and holding out the towel to her. "What happened?" he asked. He still ached something fierce all over and a wave of exhaustion was sinking in, but they'd both been quicker than in the arena, ironically enough, so it wasn't as bad.

Rogue pressed the towel to her palm, hissing as the pressure made the stinging worse. "Something stupid," she grumbled, carefully wiping at the cuts on her hand.

"Those things are really sharp," she commented, noticing how clean the cuts were. The bleeding had already stopped, too, and she could feel the slight itching of healing underneath the biting pain.

Going back to the topic at hand, she explained, "I was surprised that it was starting to work and lost my focus. Stupid." She paused in her work and looked up at him. Repeated her question from before, she asked, "Are you okay?"

He chuckled at the claw remark, then let out a long sigh at the reason why she'd goofed up. "Drained." he answered, literally. "At least now we know you can have some control over it. The trick is keeping that control. We'll try again tomorrow perhaps"

The door slid open again but now it was Sheppard himself. Clearly he'd been settled in for the night when the marine had called, having only quickly pulled on his boots and strapped a wraith stunner to his thigh before coming over. "Everything okay here?"

"We're fine Sheppard." Todd answered, glanced to Rogue then to the colonel. Just in case this happened again, he decided it best to tell him what was going on. "If you must know Rogue is attempting to harness her ability. I think you'll approve, its quite painful for me" he grinned.

The colonel gave the pair a lopsided smile and sighed, "Okay okay, just, try to keep it down kids. You gave your guard quite the scare."

"Is he really still necessary, Sheppard? There are cameras all over the place" Todd pointed out. Indeed there were two-he knew of-in his room and one outside his door. There was also the night patrol, beefed up thanks to the presence of the extra wraith in the hospital.

Sheppard shrugged, "I guess not. I'll talk to Woolsey about it in the morning."

Todd nodded his thanks at that.

Sheppard turned his attention to Rogue, peering down at her injured hand. "You should probably get someone to look at that," he advised, concern laced through the words.

Rogue shook her head slightly, dismissively. "It's already starting to heal," she told him. "Side effect of my power. Besides, it's nothing I can't take care of myself." She'd been out fighting in the field for years, after all. A cut hand was nothing compared to what she'd had to help patch up, on herself and for others.

Sheppard took that in and nodded slowly. "So if this, whatever you're doing, works," he started, gesturing between the two of them, does that mean I'll get that kiss you promised me in the Jumper bay?" The question was punctuated with a teasing grin, aimed at lightening her mood.

Rogue narrowed her eyes at the man, a mischievous smile blooming with her answer. "Only if you're a very good boy, Colonel Sheppard. You've gotta earn it."

That comment earned her a pair of raised eyebrows and a laugh.

Todd occupied himself with opening the kit and pulling out a bandage for Rogue, blinking at the flirty pair. Even after all this time, he still found human courtship quite strange.

"If you two are quite finished..." he said, handing Rogue the bandage. "I'd like to get some rest because someone sucked the life out of me." he said with a point look to the mutant.

"Hey, what goes around comes around. Your come-uppins just took ten thousand years." Sheppard said to him.

"Give or take a few centuries." Todd chuffed, getting up. Everything hurt, but he kept a straight face.

"Come on, let's leave the old bug to his bed." Sheppard said to Rogue, jerking his head to the door.

Rogue applied the bandage to her hand while the two joked in their own way, smirking at the exchange. They were pretty amusing when they got going. When she was finished, she tugged her discarded glove back on and began the process of heaving herself up off the couch. Sheppard was immediately at her side, taking her elbow and helping get her upright.

"Thanks," she murmured, again noting the differences between humans and Wraith. Not all humans fit into that mold, of course, but John Sheppard certainly did.

As they moved to the door, Rogue stopped near Todd and quietly informed him, "My usual offer stands. Come find me in the morning if you need to take me up on it."

Sheppard frowned slightly at her words, but didn't say anything as they left the room and he escorted her back to her room for the night. She wouldn't have answered him even if he'd asked.

Todd cocked his head at that but then realized what she meant. He'd avoid feeding on her though to regain his strength, preferring to leave any touching and risks thereof to her training.

After the door closed, he laid down and fell into a dreamless deep sleep.

He woke a little later than usual the next day but the uninterrupted rest felt good and he was ready to deal with today. No need to seek Rogue out and feed on her.

The wraith given the serum the previous day were getting their check-ups from the doctors, and Todd checked each one too to ensure they weren't hiding any side effects.

Once they were finished, they were escorted down to the cafeteria for their first meal of an early lunch. Todd sat with them and ate as well, knowing the rest of the day would be devoted to the next group which were on their way from the hive.

Rogue slept right through breakfast, and might not have made it to lunch if Dr. Beckett hadn't shown up at her door, having decided to track her down since she'd failed to visit the hospital for a checkup as promised. He'd taken one look at her ribs and immediately dragged her out of her room, insisting on performing a full scan with the proper equipment.

The bruising on her side was significantly improved, to Carson's astonishment. He'd heard about her ability from Rodney, who hadn't been able to contain his glee over having something new and exciting to study, but as they say, seeing is believing. After Rogue provided a brief explanation of what had happened the night before, the Scot determined that the borrowed healing had easily shaved off a week of her recovery time.

She was glad to hear it, because the whole event had actually taken a lot out of her. Physically, she was fine beyond the mostly healed cuts on her palm and her still injured ribs, but mentally she was a little on edge. Once she'd gotten to her room the night before, everything had come back to her and she'd fully realized what had happened. At the time, she'd been so involved in controlling the situation and effectively protecting Todd from the marine and potential repercussions of the accident, but in the quiet of her room she relieved the marine bursting into the room, pointing a gun at her companion. Just like so many had before, to other friends in other places and times.

Nightmares had plagued her for much of the night, and it wasn't until the sun was up that she got any real rest. It was because of her listlessness that Carson forced her to have lunch in the hospital before allowing her to retreat back to her room for a nap.

After brunch with the boys, the newly changed wraith were escorted back to the pier where the new group were waiting, including the youngest of their lot. They switched, the first group being returned to the ship, and were brought to the hospital and the spare room to be inoculated.

Like the day before, Todd oversaw each one of his crew, glad he had a strong stomach for the usual side effects ensued.

He tried not to check up on the youngster any more often than the others but this would make or break the serum's wide-spread ability and Keller could swear the old commander hovered around a little more than before. However, by dinner, there'd been nothing different in the side effects with him.

Sheppard stopped by briefly but long enough to know the youngster was special, and so during dinner, with Rogue sitting with them, he announced..."Cody."

Rodney pulled a face, instantly knowing what the colonel meant, who seemed very proud of himself for the clever name he'd come up with. "I thought we were going to discuss what we're going to name them?"

"I said no such thing, and I can't help it when these inspirations strike" Sheppard defended, starting on his dinner-tonight was beef stew and biscuits.

"Which Wraith did you...bless with this name?" Teyla said, amused. Torren beside her, eating his peas before Rogue could take them away.

"The young one." Sheppard said

"They all look the same to me." Ronon said

"The one with no beard or tats." the colonel elaborated

"Oh that one." Ronon plainly didn't seem to remember there being much of a difference between any of the new wraith on the base, though, like Teyla, somewhat amused by Sheppard's naming of them.

Cody. Rogue froze when Sheppard said that oh so familiar name, and she wasn't able to recover quickly enough to escape notice. Once they'd finished discussing which of the Wraith had been given this new moniker, Teyla's keen eyes noticed Rogue's unsettled expression.

"Rogue, is there something wrong?" the Athosian woman asked her gently, and the table collectively turned to look at the two women.

Rogue struggled to find words for a moment, then shook her head. "No, nothing wrong," she said dismissively. "You're sure you wanna go with 'Cody'?" she asked Sheppard, trying and failing to make it fully into a joke. "You can't come up with anything better than that?"

"Yes, thank you!" Rodney chimed in, completely oblivious to anything else going on.

Sheppard raised an eyebrow. "You're not a fan either?" he asked Rogue, a little concerned with her change in demeanor.

She shrugged slightly, moving her spoon through her bowl of soup but not actually taking a bite. "I knew a Cody once. It didn't end well." She paused, then added quietly, "For him."

Which effectively killed the mood of the table. Picking up her tray, she gave the rest of the group an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I think the pain's making me less charming than usual. I'm gonna go get some more meds from Dr. Beckett. I'll see you all later."

Sheppard looked like a hurt puppy when she left, struggling to come up with a better name in her absence but after that, every name he came up with seemed like it might be someone Rogue would know.

Todd was in the hospital when Rogue came by. The wraith in the beds were either sleeping, or in 'Cody's' case, awake and working a Sudoku book.

"Good evening." Todd greeted "Thought you'd still be at dinner" he stated

Rogue smiled sadly and shrugged. "I was kind of killing the party," she admitted. "Figured I'd check in on you, and them," with a nod to the other Wraith, "while getting my nightly dose."

Narrowing her eyes at 'Cody' and his Sudoku book, she looked surprised and then amused, actually laughing at the sight. "If he's awake and doing number puzzles, I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that he's bouncing back just fine after the gene therapy."

"The side effects come and go." Todd said as Beckett came over.

"Need more pain killers, love?" he asked

Todd stepped away so that she could talk to him in relative private. Cody set his book aside and lay back in bed, closing his eyes until the room stopped spinning.

Told you to take it easy.

Cody opened his eyes and looked to his commander. I don't like sitting still

Get used to it, the gene therapy's side effects won't last the night. Now rest.

Cody frowned and put his book on the table and closed his eyes to try and do as he was told. Todd checked his vitals before leaving the hospital for the extra room to check on those wraith there.

Rogue watched Todd go before giving the doctor a smile. "You know it," she confirmed. "And... do you have anything that could help me sleep? Between the pain and being in a strange place, well, you saw me earlier. I don't think it's gonna be any better tonight."

Carson frowned in concern at Rogue's request. "I can give you a mild sleep aid, certainly, but... If there's something bothering you, if you need to talk to someone, we do have a psychologist in the city."

With everything that Atlantis team saw and dealt with in Pegasus on a daily basis, their psychologist had a busy schedule with regular check-ins and helping handle the job. Carson was sure she would squeeze Rogue in, though, if she needed it. And after having spent a few weeks on a hive ship, he didn't see how she couldn't.

Rogue reached out and put her hand on Carson's arm, but below the shoulder. Giving it a squeeze, she told him, "Thanks, doc, but I'll be fine. I've got a whole team of psychologists in my head who can handle the job, but I do appreciate the concern."

Even though his concerns weren't completely allayed, the Scot still nodded and retrieved the medication she'd requested.

His crew were all resting comfortably, a sign that the worst of the side effects were over with. And as the youngster just needed to learn to relax for one night, it was safe to say he was fine too.

He returned to talk to Beckett shortly after Rogue had left and told him to wake him and let him know if there was anything the matter. He returned to his quarters, now escort-free, and settled down with a book, expecting Rogue to stop by to either talk because she couldn't sleep or proceed with the training.

Rogue actually debated that night over whether she should go to Todd's room or force herself to stay in her own for the entire night. Twenty minutes of going back and forth over going or staying, waiting for the pain medication to set in. She should let him have a night to himself, he'd had another long day of watching over his crew. But she felt completely on edge, her nerves like live wires under her skin, and being around Todd usually managed to have a calming effect on her, as odd as it might seem to other people.

So she stuffed the sleep aid in her pocket and made her way through the hallways, surprised and relieved to see he'd actually been relieved of his guard marine.

Todd got up when the door made its usual noise and opened it. "Almost thought you'd forgotten me" he grinned, but instead of stepping aside, he came out, letting the door close behind him.

"Care to walk a bit? I like this new freedom Woolsey agreed to."

A Wraith walking freely about Atlantis, he'd be the first.

"Sure, a walk sounds nice," she agreed, fully understanding why he'd want to take advantage of the opportunity. And a walk would do her some good, might even get her out of the funk she'd been in all day.

"How did Colonel Sheppard manage to convince Woolsey to go along with this, anyway? Doesn't seem like him," she asked, incredibly curious.

"Sheppard has his ways." he answered. "But I presume that the extra guard on me is better suited to patrolling the hospital halls where the wraith who have not been eating regular food are versus patient one who has."

The walk was leisurely, he drank in the architecture and paused to open a balcony door, only to close it, and then open it again and step out into the cool night sea air. The sky was pretty overcast and off on the horizon a storm was rolling closer. He leaned on the balcony, looking out over the city, much of it still alight as many were up late working.

Todd looked to her, "What threw you off from dinner?" he asked "I thought you and Sheppard and the rest got along?"

The fresh air was nice, the smell of the ocean reminding her of growing up in the South, with summer vacations spent on the coast. She missed it desperately, even though it hadn't been home in a very long time. The South would always have her heart, and little things like this would keep those memories close.

Hands tucked inside her pockets, Rogue didn't look at Todd save for a quick glance when he spoke, her eyes fixed on the lights of the city. "We get along great," she confirmed. "It's just... Cody. The name Colonel Sheppard picked. Cody was the name of the first boy I kissed. It's not a really common name, so when he said it, it just brought up a lot of bad memories."

She sighed and turned her gaze to the approaching storm. "I've been in a funk all day though, so it wasn't just that. The thing with the marine last night... I didn't sleep very well afterward."

Todd cocked his head, looking to her and remembering last night.

They'd been so close. Concentration was indeed what she needed most, that was a fact. Perhaps they'd have better luck on the hive. But he'd try to practice with her as often as possible here.

But...

"Picked for what?" he asked after a moment.

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