SquidgeWorld Archive

24 hours: 1 Hour
by Damion Starr

"In just 1 hour they'll be laying flowers
on my life, it's over tonight
I'm not messing no I
need your blessing
and your promise to live free
please do it for me"
~ "24" Jem

John looked at his watch, then scrubbed his face with both hands and a sigh. One hour. Gaigun had one hour to perform a miracle, or else Sheppard would have to do the unthinkable; bury his friend...

And the one he loved.

John lowered his hands and clasped them loosely between his knees. It was true. At some point, he had fallen in love with Lt. Aiden Ford. Unfortunately, he didn't see that until the younger man was wasting away right before John's very own eyes; a victim of scientifically advanced Cancer.

"C'mon, God, how about a little help here?" John whispered, his eyes briefly flickering upward.

"I DID IT!" John jumped as Gaigun ran into the room, a object that resembled a syringe in his hand. "I have it! John, I have the cure!" John leapt to his feet, eyes wide in joy and disbelief.

"Thanks," Sheppard said toward the ceiling, causing the alien scientist to stop short in confusion. "Well? What are you waiting for? He doesn't have a lot of time!"

John moved out of the way and Gaigun took his place at Aiden's bedside. Gaigun picked up the comatose man's arm, carefully inserted the needle, and depressed the plunger. The clear liquid inside flowed into Aiden's veins. John watched intently, nearly panting with anticipation.

"What now?" The Atlantean finally broke the heavy silence in the room.

"Now, we wait," John's heart fell.

"We wait to see if he dies or not,"

"Correct," Gaigun stood swiftly and left the room, sparing Sheppard only a glance. Not that the Air Force Pilot noticed. He was too focused on his Lieutenant.

However, the scientist was not gone for very long. "Major!"

John spun to face the hissed whisper. "What?"

Gaigun signaled for John to speak quietly, then to follow. The two men tiptoed out to the main entrance to Gaigun's lab/home. "Friends of yours?" Gaigun asked in a hushed whisper as he pointed out the open doorway (if one could call it that: there was no door) with his thumb. John peeked around the corner, then quickly withdrew.

"Yes!" Sheppard hissed in despair.

Down the "hall" was a search team composed of Atlanteans and led by Teyla and McKay. Not that John wasn't glad to see them, but he and Aiden were in some deep, *deep* shit for what they pulled to get out of Atlantis, and the Major'd just as soon his Lieutenant face them when he was feeling better. Plus, who knew what the others would do to Gaigun once they found out exactly what happened to Aiden, and even though John highly doubted it could never touch what he wanted to do to the alien, he suppressed the urge to whip out a P-90 with this mantra: "Aiden *needs* him, because without him, Aiden could *die*".

"Don't worry," Gaigun whispered back, illiciting a 'are-you-nuts?' look from John, which the intellectual ignored. Instead, Gaigun touched a blue control panel by the door, and instantly a brownish, translucent wall appeared in the doorway...just as two soldiers walked by. John inhaled sharply and held it, not daring to breathe. "Relax," Gaigun spoke in a normal tone now. "My force field is one-of-a-kind. Sound-proof, able to block any sort of energy reading instruments, and we can see them, but they can't see us,"

John exhaled. "Really?" He asked, incredulous.

"Why do you think you were unable to find Aiden before?"

John considered this for a moment. This was true. Sure, Gaigun's instrumentation was primitive, so that would not have shown up on any of McKay's equipment, but what about the life-sign's detector? That would have picked up the alien's presence in the compound.

"You know, I think McKay would've like you," John suddenly said thoughtfully.

"Who's McKay?"

"This scientist I know,"

"I'm not sure about him, but I think *I* would've liked him," Gaigun smiled, the first smile John had ever seen on the man's face, and something stirred deep within Sheppard's soul. John wanted to hate Gaigun, he really did. The bastard kidnapped Aiden, performed experiments on him, and left him with cancer and twenty-four hours to live. John wanted to hate Gaigun with every fiber of his being for what he did to Aiden...but he just couldn't. John couldn't hate him because, A.) somehow, he understood the cause, and B.) he knew that Aiden would never hate Gaigun. Aiden didn't hate. The word wasn't in his vocabulary. He didn't even hate the Wraith. He fought the Wraith to defend the helpless, but he didn't- doesn't -hate.

John couldn't hate the one who had caused the person he loved so deeply so much pain, so he looked away. "I'm gonna go check on Aiden," He mumbled, and left without another word.

John entered the other room...to find Aiden thrashing on the bed, trapped in the grips of a seizure. "AIDEN!" John shrieked, rushing over to his friend's bedside. Gaigun soon materialised as well. "What's happening?!"

"I don't know," Gaigun answered truthfully, almost mournfully. "It could be a part of the disease, it could be an adverse reaction to the antibody, it could be a side-effect of the antibody..."

"Well, whatever it is, stop it!" John finally cried, desperate.

"Restrain him,"

"What?"

"Restrain him!"

John did the only thing he could think of. He jumped on the bed, straddled Aiden's hips, and held his wrists down on either side of his head. The smaller man continued to buck beneath John, but the healthier, and therefore, stronger man held fast. John looked up at Gaigun, who was frozen.

"Well?!" That seemed to snap the alien out of it somewhat. Gaigun grabbed a nearby, flat, plastic object and carefully placed it in Aiden's mouth. "What's that for?"

"So he doesn't bite his tongue," Gaigun answered automatically, still a bit dazed, as he slowly backed away from the bed, eyes glued to Aiden's face. The ebullient young man's handsome features were contorted in anguish. John fought back tears that threatened to flow at the sight of his beloved's suffering.

Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the lithe body fell still. Aiden's features relaxed to an _expression of rest, and his chin rolled to a stop on his shoulder while the foreign object slipped from between his lips. John felt the body beneath his go limp and pliant.

There was a moment where neither John nor Gaigun breathed, let alone spoke, then, cautiously, Sheppard reached out and pressed his fingers to Aiden's carotid artery.

"No," John breathed as his heart stopped in his chest.

"John, I-" Gaigun started.

"NO!" John jumped off the bed, pulled Aiden's body to the floor (none too gently, either), and began CPR. "C'mon, Aiden, breathe!" Sheppard urged.

"John, it's too late-"

"No!" John snarled viciously, turning on the scientist, but Gaigun didn't shrink away, because he could see, feel, practically taste the pure sorrow coming off of the Major in droves.

"He's gone," Gaigun said calmly.

"No, he's not!" John turned back to Aiden and continued throwing all of his weight onto Ford's chest, fighting to make the heart within beat. "He's made it this far, I'm not letting him give up now!"

"He's not giving up," Gaigun knelt on Aiden's other side. "This is just one fight he can't win-"

"Yes, he can!"

"No, he can't!" Gaigun snapped, grabbing John's arm. "Don't you see? He has been fighting his heart out, but no matter how hard you fight, you can't always win," John's motions slowed, but did not cease entirely. "He never gave up. This was not his fault or yours...it was mine," John looked away, ashamed that Gaigun was saying aloud what he himself had been thinking for awhile. "I did this to him, I made it too strong!" Gaigun shook his head sadly. "I just pray that you find some comfort in the fact that I will never forgive myself for this,"

"What makes you think that would make me feel better?" John spat, even though his heart wasn't behind it.

"I don't," Gaigun answered truthfully and with a shrug. "But I hope it gives you a tiny bit of comfort, since you've just lost the one you love,"

There's a moment before what Gaigun said finally hits John, and it showed clearly on the pilot's face. John opened his mouth to dispute Gaigun's words, but the scientist patted his arm reassuringly, then left, and Sheppard resigned.

John looked down at Aiden's body, laid out before him on the floor, and tears welled up in his hazel eyes. "Aiden," He whispered the name almost reverently. "Aiden, I-" His voice broke. He swallowed, hard, but the tears won over and spilled over onto his cheeks. John reached out to gently touch the bed of surprisingly soft chocolate curls. "I'm sorry, Aiden," John finally managed to whisper, leaning down close and resting his free hand on Aiden's chest for leverage. "I am *so* sorry. I wasn't strong enough, I-" A sob caught in his throat. "I couldn't save you. I should've, but I couldn't," One finger traced a crease in Aiden's forehead. "I saw you there, I saw you then. Those saddest words -" That same finger ran over Aiden's full bottom lip. "What might've been?" John recited from memory an old Athosian proverb that Teyla had sagely recited to him when she had learned of his infatuation. "I love you, Aiden," John whispered, so softly that it was barely above a breath. "I'll love you 'till the day I die," John leaned forward, and tenderly pressed his lips against Aiden's.

Aiden's lips were exactly as John had imagined: soft, full and still oh-so-warm. A million emotions flooded through John's body. 'And I'm sorry I never told you.' All of a sudden, the lips beneath John's pressed back; kissing him back. John, swept up in the moment, didn't realize exactly what was happening, though. He shifted his weight, drawing his legs under him, and moved his hand from Aiden's chest to the side of his face. It wasn't until John felt a hand on his back that he broke the embrace.

"Aiden?" John whispered, not quite wanting to believe it, for fear that another disappointment would simply shatter his heart.

But he was not disappointed. Aiden's mouth twitched, then his eyes fluttered open. "John?" Aiden whispered as well, more out of a lack of use of his voice.

"Aiden!" John sighed in relief, holding Aiden's face in both of his hands, smiling and crying. "You're alive, you're alive," He said it as if trying to convince himself.

"Yes, I'm alive," Aiden smiled weakly.

The two stared at each other for a long time, then John pulled the still-feeble Aiden to him in a fierce hug. "You did it. Oh, my God, you did it. You actually did it," John mumbled, almost incoherently, rocking back and forth.

"John -"

"I love you, Aiden," John blurted out, his hands stroking and roaming over Aiden's back. "I love you with all of my heart," John's voice broke.

"...I love you, too, John," Aiden whispered back, fighting back oncoming sleep. John closed his eyes and held the man in his arms all the more tighter. "Please, don't let go," Aiden's eyes were becoming heavy-lidded.

"Never," John tatooed kisses on Aiden's cheek and temple. "Never,"

To Be Concluded...