fic: Not Going Anywhere by miera

Title: Not Going Anywhere
Archive: Wraithbait, Coffeeslash
Date: July 12, 2006
Rating: PG
Pairings: none
Main characters: Sheppard, Weir, McKay, Beckett
Summary: John wakes up after a mission, unable to see or hear
Warnings: none
Sequel to: none
Beta: none. All mistakes mine.
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: The boys and girls of "Stargate: Atlantis" belong to a lot of people who are not me. No harm intended, just some not-for-profit fun.
Author's Notes: Short piece about the team. Sorry it's not longer or more involved.
Feedback: Is like peanut butter and chocolate together.

***

It was dark. He was sure he was awake, but it was still pitch dark.

John tried to blink and realized something was on his face. He reached up and found cloth wrapped over his eyes. He was... blindfolded? The last thing he remembered was being chased through the Gate by the Wraith. If he'd been captured, why would they bother blindfolding him?

He started to try and tug at the blindfold but hands grabbed his wrists and made him stop. He jumped in alarm. He hadn't realized he wasn't alone.

That was when it registered that he couldn't hear anything but a loud, persistent buzzing noise.

What the hell was going on? Where was he? Panic overtook him. Unable to hear, prevented from seeing and being restrained by someone unknown, he started to thrash around, trying to break free. More hands were on him now, holding his legs and arms down. He was too weak to fight. Within seconds his heart was pounding and he was covered in sweat and aching from tiredness.

A hand took gentle hold of his left one and turned it over. He went still, but the people pinning him didn't let go completely. The fingers felt strangely thin, almost delicate. Female, he realized. And warm, not cold like a Wraith.

One of the fingers started tracing something on his palm. It took a minute to figure out what it was.

I-Z-A-B-E-

"Elizabeth?" he said, or tried to say. He heard a faint grumbling sound that might have been his own voice. It was hard to tell over the buzzing.

His arm was freed and lifted and his fingers touched soft skin and a gentle curve of bone. Elizabeth's cheek. She nodded and he pressed his palm against her face in a sudden, desperate need for reassurance. The arms pinning him relaxed their pressure completely and he was free.

He attempted to speak again. "I can't see, or hear." He had no idea how his voice sounded but it must have been working because she clearly could understand him.

His hand was pulled back down and her finger was back. This time he was ready.

T-E-M-P-O-R-

"It's temporary?"

She nodded under his touch again.

"Where are we? Is my team okay?"

I-N-F-I-R-M-A-R-Y

Another nod. Then a strong hand grasped his right shoulder.

Elizabeth spelled something else out. R-O-D-

"Rodney?" The hand patted his shoulder twice, then Rodney took his other hand and spelled something out.

I = N

What? John frowned. That didn't make sense. Was Rodney asking him to solve something, now?

2=Y

Not "I," John realized. One. One for no, twice for yes. Rodney tapped his palm twice and John nodded. "I get it. Teyla and Ronon?"

Two hands touched his ankles. He could guess just from the size of the one which was which.

John relaxed a little. It was disorienting as hell. He kept wanting to turn his head, open his eyes and see. He wanted to be able to look at something, anything. The world was just darkness and that obnoxious buzzing, along with a spectacular headache. The idea that he had no way of knowing who else might be there was disturbing.

"What happened to me?"

Rodney let go of John's right hand and Elizabeth started "talking" to him again.

B-E-C-K-E-T-T-E-X-A-M-I-N-E-F-I-R-S-T

John growled. Elizabeth squeezed his hand in both her own, asking him to be patient, he knew.

A male hand touched his right wrist and patted it twice. John nodded and didn't fight as Beckett's hands went to work. He was trying hard not to jump at not knowing where he would be touched again. But Beckett was good. He let his hands move over John's body close enough that he could follow the doc's path and not have to be surprised over and over.

The next several minutes were tedious. Elizabeth asked him questions, obviously being relayed from Beckett, about what John could hear and how he felt. He managed to guess most of them as she got midway through, at least, but it was still incredibly frustrating. Beckett squeezed his shoulder, seemingly indicating that the examination was over.

"When will I get my senses back?" John asked. It was getting a little easier to follow his own voice, he thought.

H-E-A-R-F-I-R-S-T His hearing was already coming back. S-E-E-T-O-M-O-R-R-O-W-L-A-T-E-S-T

"How long was I out?"

4-H-O-U-R-S

It was nighttime, he thought. Beckett would doubtless sedate him for the night and when he woke up he would at least be able to hear. But he couldn't wait that long for answers.

"What happened?" He realized it would go faster if he told her, "The last thing I remember is running for the gate."

E-X-P-L-O-S-I-O-N She paused. F-L-A-S-H-B-L-I-N-D Another pause. C-O-N-C-U-S-S-I-O-N

He had been blinded and deafened by a large explosion as he went through the gate. It must have been one hell of a bang to do this to him. He couldn't remember it at all.

B-I-S-S-U-R-E-T-E-M-P

It took him a second to parse that one. Beckett was sure it would fade. Elizabeth was trying to reassure him.

R-E-S-T-N-O-W

There were gentle pats on his ankles and one further up on his leg. They were leaving.

His stomach lurched and John's hand tightened around Elizabeth's in panic. He didn't want to be left here without any way of knowing what was happening around him. Much as he hated being clingy, being left would be worse right now.

She drew a question mark on his palm. He didn't want the others to hear him, so he tried to whisper, "Don't leave yet, OK?"

Her hands enfolded his and squeezed tightly. He didn't need her to spell that one out.

Not going anywhere.

***