Work Text:
24 Hours
by Damion Starr
"Been given 24 hours to tie up loose ends, to make amends...
Head spinning round, no time to sit down, just wanted to run and run and run.
Be careful, they say, don't wish life away.
Now, I've one day."
~"24" by Jem
He was running.
Lt. Aiden Ford was running like something was chasing him...only nothing was there. His clothes, reduced to his shirt and pants, were torn and dirty. His bare feet were scratched and bleeding from the debris on the Earth-like planet's forest floor, but still, he ran. His gasping breaths and pounding heart blended with the other night sounds. His lungs fought to keep up, and his legs had long since stopped screaming, so he continued to run. He ran until he burst out of the trees, then he finally came to a stop. Where the treeline ended, the level grass continued for a few feet, then began a gentle slope downward. It was a few yards before the slope finally leveled out. About a yard beyond where the hill and field met, bathed in moonlight, was the huge stone ring that had haunted the lieutenant's fevered dreams for the past three days. "Stargate," He whispered through parched lips. There were people moving around the Stargate. A search team. His people. He took a step toward them, and his knees finally gave out. "Major..." He never found the ground. Darkness swallowed him first.
***
At one point, Aiden became aware of a voice. Not so much a presence, just a voice. Deep, warm, and familiar: Lieutenant? Lieutenant, can you hear me? Ford wanted to answer, but he just couldn't find his...body at the moment. go dial atlantis, tell weir to send a med team through! hold on, ford His major's voice was more distant. A small part of Aiden knew that it could be another dream. After all, he had had quite a few like these, but he just didn't want to believe that. ford? ford?! he's not breathing! hang on, ford. please, hang on, aiden...
And, it was gone. He was alone again. Aiden hated that. He wanted the voice back. He wanted John back.
***
When Aiden finally awoke, he was in the infirmary in Atlantis. He lay there for a moment, afraid that he would move and discover that it was a dream. "Hey, pretty boy," That voice again, more laid back this time, but still slightly on edge. Ford looked over at Sheppard, who was seated at his bedside. "Sleep well?" Aiden smiled weakly.
"Yes, sir," He rasped, then cleared his throat. John grabbed a cup of water from the nearby hospital tray and offered it to his lieutenant.
"Here, this'll help,"
Aiden pushed himself up into the sitting position, with John's help, and took the cup with a trembling hand. "Thanks," He whispered before taking a tentative sip. John settled back into his chair and watched Ford, uncharacteristically silent.
"What happened to you, Aiden?" John finally asked quietly, breaking the silence. There was a sort of genuine wonder in his voice. "I mean, you just disappeared like that, poof, gone! Three days! Gone! Nothing! We didn't know if you were alive, or if you were..." He trailed off. He didn't want to go down that road. "What happened?" He finished, calmer.
"A lot," Aiden answered without looking up at his major. Instead, he set the cup aside, then, without warning, pulled his IV out of his arm, and began to unhook himself. John leapt to his feet.
"What are you doing?!"
"I have to go back," Again, Ford answered without looking at his CO. He was too busy looking around for his clothes.
"No, you have to rest, you have to get better,"
"You don't understand," Aiden swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, but his knees were too weak to hold him up.
"See? I told you. You have to rest," John caught his 21C and gently lowered him to the floor. "Now, you're getting back in that bed, Lieutenant," But before Sheppard could even attempt that, Aiden was doubled over, violently coughing into his hand. When a minute had passed, but the coughing had not, John began to grow concerned. "I'm gonna get Beckett," He reached for the Ancient control panel that activated the intercom system, but was stopped when Aiden grabbed his arm. Ford's hand slipped on John's arm, and the older man's skin was smeared with blood.
"Don't," Aiden gasped between coughs. "I have to go back," But John wasn't listening. He was staring at the crimson stain on his arm.
"Is that blood?" Sheppard's voice cracked in the middle. "Are you coughing up blood?"
"Sir, please, let me go back,"
"No way in hell are you going back, especially if you are coughing up blood," John's hand started for the panel again.
"No, sir, you don't understand, I have to go back," Aiden grabbed his major's arm again, but it slid easily through his blood slicked fingers. He began to panic, so he blurted out the only thing he could think of: "If I don't go back, I'll die!"
John froze, then slowly lowered his arm and looked at his shocked lieutenant. "What?" Sheppard finally managed to gasp out, even though he somehow doubted that there was air in his lungs or that his heart was beating.
Aiden released his CO's arm, swallowed, then licked his lips, but refused to meet John's eyes from where he sat on the Infirmary floor. "He let me go because he said the experiment failed. He wanted to let me tie up all the loose ends and make amends. It was the least he could do," Aiden's dark, intense eyes hesitantly met John's, but didn't shy away. "I have 24 hours to live," He half-whispered. "But if I go back there, I know that there is something he can do," The two stared at each other for a long time in heavy silence. "Sir, I can't just sit here and wait to die," John still said nothing. "Sir?"
Sheppard stood and held a hand out to his second in command. "Come on," Aiden stared blankly at him. "I'm not letting you go alone," Ford considered this for a moment, then finally took the proffered hand.
***
They didn't get very far before Aiden fell weakly against the wall. "C'mon, Ford, we have to keep moving," John hissed, trying to look everywhere at once.
"McKay's coming," Aiden managed.
"Yeah, so's Beckett!"
John carefully shoved his lieutenant into a nearby closet and let the door close behind them. It was a tight squeeze. Ford ended up sandwiched between the back of the closet and his major, who, in turn, was sandwiched between his lieutenant and the door. Sheppard flashed an apologetic smile to the visibly uncomfortable man and shifted himself around so, rather than trapped by walls, they were trapped by crates and other various Earth luggage.
"Hey, Carson, how's Ford doing?" Once they got themselves situated and somewhat comfortable, John and Aiden could hear McKay just outside the closet door.
"He still hasn't woken up, Rodney. We'll know more then," Dr. Carson Beckett responded in his thick Scottish brogue.
"...What about the major?"
"Still hasn't left his side,"
"Still?" McKay snarked. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that there was something going on between those two," Again, John's heart stopped beating, and Aiden's leapt up into his throat.
"Who? John and Aiden?"
"Yeah!"
The duo in question suddenly became excruciatingly uncomfortable. It wasn't that there was something going on between them. It was that each was attracted to the other, both on the physical and mental level. Of course, their crushes were obvious to everyone but to the one person that mattered the most.
"Well, if I didn't know any better, Rodney, I'd say you were jealous,"
McKay said nothing to this, and John silently applauded the Scot.
"I have to go," The Kanuck finally grumbled.
"Bye, Rodney," Carson chirped.
There were receding footsteps, then silence. John waited a moment before he opened the closet door and peeked out into the hallway. It was empty.
"Major, exactly how do you plan to do this? Dr. Weir isn't just going to let us Gate to another planet without telling her where we're going and why," Aiden spoke up.
"Don't worry, I've thought of that,"
***
"Major, wha - ?" Peter Grodin was cut off when John shot him with a Wraith weapon. The other occupants of the Atlantis Control Room were taken out in a similar manner by Aiden, who was leaning weakly against the doorway. John dialled the planet from memory.
"C'mon," Sheppard tossed his and Ford's weapons onto the floor and gently steered Aiden toward the Gate room.
"Major Sheppard! Lieutenant Ford! What the hell are you doing!" They heard Dr. Elizabeth Weir scream.
"Come on, we gotta hurry," John murmured to Aiden, but the younger man stopped when they reached the bottom of the stairs. It took the major a few steps to realize that his lieutenant wasn't beside him. "Ford?" He turned. Aiden was on the floor. "Ford!" John rushed to Aiden's side. "Ford, are you okay?" To Sheppard's relief, his second in command groaned. "Come on, Ford, we're almost there," John helped pull Aiden up into the sitting position, but then Aiden lunged in his grip and vomited on the Gate room floor. Sheppard grimaced, half in disgust, half in pity. "It's okay, it's okay," John gently rubbed Aiden's back soothingly.
"Oh, god," Aiden moaned.
"Are you okay?" John glanced up at the control room, and saw movement. Luckily, Liz and the others were currently more concerned with the paralyzed technicians than with them.
"No, sir,"
Sheppard looked down, not expecting that answer, and felt the bile rise into his throat. The puddle on the floor was mixed with red. Blood. He had vomited up blood.
"Come on, we have to go," John pulled Aiden to his feet and, together, the two ran into the Stargate without looking back.
To Be Continued...