Loveless Relationships

Okay, so this chapter does not really add to the story, and I don't know why I wrote it. I guess it was because I got a review, and that inspired me to give you readers some more to read. Honestly, though, if you want to read more about this, the best way to motivate me to write is to write reviews. If the story is not going in a direction you like or if you have a better idea for why Sheppard is an ass, let me know. Thanks all!

Dr. Heightenmeyer sat next to Rodney’s bed, pad of paper and pen in hand.

Rodney really did not feel like talking. Carson’s medication had kicked-in, and his mind was beginning to cloud.

“. . . and just remember that anything you say to me will be held under the most strict doctor/patient confidentiality.”

“What did they do with Sheppard?”

“He’s being held in quarantine under heavy guard. What emotions do you feel when you think about him?”

“I don’t know. Guilt, shame, apprehension. Did they find out why his . . . um . . . sample didn’t test as human?”

“Dr. Beckett is conduction his examination as we speak. I have interviewed some of the people you had contact with last night.” Rodney visibly cringed. “Don’t worry. Carson and I have agreed to tell everyone that you came down with a sever stomach flu.”

“Thanks.”

“Dr. Weir told me that you eventually became very apologetic, but not until after defending your intelligence. Dr. Zelenka told me that you were downright nice, and Col. Caldwell said that you sent a very nice little email. He said that there wasn’t even a hint of your usual ego.”

“So? I learned my lesson.”

“The internal sensor logs say that after apologizing to Radek, you spoke with Col. Sheppard in the corridor.”

“I ask again, so?”

“Can you tell me what the colonel said to you?”

“What does it matter?”

“Am I right in saying that you hold, or now held, a deep respect for Col. Sheppard?”

Rodney was quiet in thought. It was more than just respect.

“I assume that you spoke with him and apologized about yesterday’s incident. Did he say something that affected you?”

“You mean did he say something that would make me let him fuck me into the bed?”

“Your words not mine. Did you feel depressed in any way after the incident?”

“No. He just said that it would take time to earn back his trust. Nothing out of the ordinary for him, and of course I was depressed. I just proved to everyone that I am just as fallible as the Ancients.”

“How long have the two of you been intimate?”

Rodney’s ass twinged at the thought. If he could have disappeared into the bed, he would have. “Two years. A few weeks after we got here. But we really haven’t been interested in one another since he got promoted. He was more focused on his career, and I didn’t care if we were together or not.”

She made a note on her pad.

“And what attracted you to him?”

Rodney laughed. “I wasn’t attracted to him. He got wood every time he shot at me or threw me over a balcony. It was when I had that glowing turtle thing. The personal shield. I took what I could get. It’s not as if I have people throwing themselves at me everyday.”

Heightenmeyer tried to hide it, but Rodney could see her lean towards him with this new information. “He was attracted to you when he was hurting you?”

“No, he was attracted to my baby blues.” He harrumphed. “Yes, he has a thing for pain.”

“Specifically, giving pain?”

“I guess. He never had me hurt him or anything. But we were always very professional. We never let our relationship affect our day jobs.”

“Beside this latest incident, how else has he hurt you?”

“He has never hurt me before. I said that he has a thing for pain, not necessarily giving pain.”

“So it was out of character for him to hurt you last night?”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“Before the two of you became intimate last night, did you sense something different? Something that would suggest that he was not his usual self.”

Rodney paused. The night began to replay in his mind. He gripped a handful of blanket.

Heightenmeyer noted on her paper that Rodney’s heart rate was spiking on the monitor. “We can take a break.”

“No, no. I want to get this all done at once. After I apologized to him, I went to my room to get ready for bed. He comes in and starts kissing me. We both sort of gave up on kissing a long time ago. It didn’t even really feel like a kiss. That’s what I noticed that was different. I had kissed him before and not felt anything, but this was different. He was different.” Rodney’s face was becoming red, and he was speaking without breathing like he usually did when explaining how to save Atlantis from imminent destruction. “I know that it was stupid to sleep with him, when I knew that he didn’t care about me that way, but I wanted to be with someone.”

“It’s natural to seek comfort with intimacy. You have nothing to feel ashamed about.”

“We got undressed. I was on the bed, and then . . .” Rodney’s throat choked up.

“Take your time.”

“He, he was on top of me. He got me ready, you know with—”

“Yes, I know.”

“And then he was between my legs. I told him that I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to have, um . . . anal, ah, intercourse a long time ago. I-I didn’t say anything last night because, because I had screwed up with blowing up a solar system and all of that, but it hurt. I tried to get him off of me. I tried pushing him off and I even kicked him, but he was too strong. He-he just wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t stop him. I tried, but—”

“It’s alright. There is nothing more that you could have done. Just take deep even breaths. In and out, in and out.”

Rodney was still near hyperventilating, but eventually his breathing began to slow.

“Why would he do that? Why would he hurt me so much? And what the FUCK is up with his sample not being human?!”

Suddenly the curtain around Rodney’s bed flew open. It was Carson. “I think I know, but you’re not going to like the answer.”

Carson swiveled a chair next to Rodney’s bed and sat next to Heightenmeyer. “Rodney, did you and the colonel come into contact with anything you didn’t mention in the initial exam? Any strange technology, blinking lights, anything?”

“We were on an alien base on an alien planet. We touched a lot of things.”

“Damn it, Rodney, think! Was there anything there that you could not identify? Anything that seemed out of the ordinary?”

“No, Carson. What the hell is the matter with him?!”

Carson looked seriously at Rodney and Heightenmeyer. “Colonel Sheppard looks and acts, for the most part, just like Colonel Sheppard, but his molecules are rapidly being replaced with silicon. The colonel is changing into a different life form unlike anything I have ever seen.”

*Wags a finger* Ah, ah, ah, no new chapters until I get rave reviews.