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Looking back all the signs of the coming apocalypse were there for all to see: global warming, beached pods of whales and dolphins, and the increasing ferocity of hurricanes and tectonic activity, all leading to a perfect storm. According to Rodney's sources in the scientific community, Professor Hall, a Climatologist, had stated this one storm - with massive, deadly cells over Canada, Scotland, and Siberia - would change everything. Once it was over the Earth would be in a new ice age, a whole new world icing over humanity's mistakes.
Rodney blamed the greedy fossil fuel corporations who had bought out and clamped down on the development of cleaner fuel ideas, paying obscene amounts of money to lobbyists to keep those barrels of crude oil and gas pipelines in profit. He had suffered under these issues for getting grants for his work for over a decade, trying to build a prototype generator using an easily mined rock that was usually discarded within the mining process after a military geologist recognized how its properties could be altered using the tiniest amount of a recently discovered and far rarer element called Naquadah.
According to all the news outlets anyone currently south of Washington DC was being asked to evacuate immediately, heading as far south as possible even if that meant crossing the border into South America. Usually that wouldn't be too much of an issue as Rodney was based in Silicon Valley but he had made a rare trip to a science symposium in Seattle to hear Doctor Radek Zelenka's presentation and followed it up with a short break coinciding with Jeannie's family vacation to visit Kaleb's parents. Rodney had seen plenty of cold winters in Canada but the sudden drop in temperature over just a couple of days was brutal even by Canadian standards, plus he was more used to the heat these days.
Jeannie, Kaleb, Madison, and Kaleb's parents were all huddled together in the corner of the hotel lobby with whatever possessions they could carry, hoping Rodney's connections would find them safe passage from the impending storm. Four others stood with them but most people had left as soon as they heard the announcement of the evacuation and coming storm, needing to get home to their families.
"Doctor McKay?"
"Major Lorne," Rodney replied, having decided this was one name and face he needed to remember.
He followed Lorne across the lobby to where a few of the other scientists were waiting, including Zelenka.
"Everything's gone south already, literally as well as figuratively. All that's left is a Chinook at the air base just a few miles south of here. It needs a few minor repairs, which I'm sure you and Doctor Zelenka could do easily, but it also needs a pilot."
"You're a pilot," Rodney insisted.
"Yes... but I've never flown a helo." Rodney was about to start a major meltdown rant when Lorne continued. "I think I can get us a pilot. Ex-military, black ops helo pilot, but I need someone non-military to come with me, to persuade him to help."
"And being turned into a human Popsicle is not persuasion enough?"
Lorne shrugged. "This guy has likely already figured out how to get through the next few weeks."
"Can we not do the same. Burn the chairs frames, take food from the hotel kitchen?" Zelenka asked.
Lorne sighed and drew Rodney and Zelenka in closer. "Look, I don't want to start a panic but the kitchen has already been raided. There's not enough left to feed everyone for more than a few days." He pulled back a little. "And the military needs scientists like you down south, building your generators."
"It's just a prototype," Rodney replied weakly, hating to admit it still had a few issues he had hoped to resolve in collaboration with Zelenka.
"A working prototype, and I already figured you needed something from Dr. Z to get it fully operational. Why else would you be here?"
Rodney smarted at Zelenka's smug expression.
"So you and Zelenka will go-."
"As much as it pains me to admit it, you're more his type, Doctor McKay."
"What? Is he gay? Is that why he's ex-military? Kicked out by your homophobic armed services?"
"Actually I have no idea is he's straight or gay. I just know he likes the... confrontational types. People who won't back down or give up. No offense, Dr. Z."
"None taken," Zelenka replied with an almost hidden smile twitching at his lips, as if he knew something Rodney didn't, which was simply preposterous.
Rodney moved over to tell Jeannie and Kaleb the plan while he piled on a few additional thermal layers, followed by his orange fleece.
Zelenka and timid Japanese scientist, Mako or Miko, headed towards the air base with all the others and the soldier who had accompanied Lorne to the symposium, planning to make a start on repairing the Chinook. Rodney headed out in a different direction with Lorne. Getting across Seattle was slow and they had to abandon the car a few blocks from this Major Sheppard's last known location. Rodney just hoped it wasn't a wasted journey as he trudged along the already heavily snowed in pavements, reminded once more why he had left Canada. He hated snow.
"Here," Lorne indicated, voice muffled by the scarf wrapped around the lower half of his face.
The door to the bar opened and they stumbled in, shutting it behind them quickly. Inside it was cold but there was a glow coming from the back of the bar where they found a small group huddled around a fire. One of the men stood up lazily, and yet there was an air of danger about him, but it was only then Rodney noticed the gun concealed by his side. He was drop-dead gorgeous even when he squinted as he and Lorne began to pull off their scarves, his dark eyebrows doing some crazy maneuver that momentarily amused Rodney.
"Evan Lorne?" The man asked.
"Sir."
"I'm no longer military." He didn't wait for Lorne to respond, "And I don't plan on rejoining any time soon... or ever, come to think of it."
"Sheppard, we need your help," Lorne continued.
Sheppard glanced back at the small group huddled around the fire, and Rodney noticed there were a few women and children in the mix so he spoke up.
"And if you help us you'd be helping all these people too."
"Is that right, Mr?"
"Doctor," Rodney emphasized. "Doctor Rodney McKay. We need a pilot," Rodney bludgeoned on, "And I have it on good authority that despite the wacky hair and eyebrows you are a good pilot. Of helicopters," he added.
Sheppard had reached up to touch his hair, mouthing the word, wacky, and Rodney felt himself zeroing in on his lips. "And what's in it for us?" he asked, indicating towards the group behind him.
Lorne took over thankfully as being around busty, blond women or handsome, dark-haired men always got him flustered in the wrong way.
"It's a Chinook, and there's enough seats for both your party and mine. We plan to head south before the storm hits."
"And we planned to weather it out here," Sheppard replied laconically with a slight shoulder shrug.
"It's not an ordinary storm," Rodney clipped out. "It's pulling frozen air from the upper troposphere down to ground level, flash-freezing anything it touches. This tiny little fire and pathetic pile of kindling," he indicated to the small fire burning in the heath, "will not be enough to save you."
Sheppard's eyes had hardened at the insult to their fire building skills, and though he had an otherwise excellent poker face, Rodney could tell he was getting through to him by the way his head tilted a fraction. One of the men by the pathetic fire stood up.
"You heard the radio, John. Going out into this storm might kill us."
Sheppard kept his head towards Rodney, "And if Doctor McKay is telling the truth," Rodney huffed in annoyance at the mere implication he was lying, "then staying will definitely kill us." His eyes narrowed. "From the upper troposphere?"
"Yes. reaching the ground in minutes."
"And you know this because...?"
"Professor Rapson modeled the storm over Scotland. Three helicopters went down. The fuel in their lines froze in seconds." Sheppard frowned, eyes widening slightly. "Everyone on the ground froze in their cars. According to my contacts the cell over Canada is moving, and growing, and will hit Seattle within eight hours."
Sheppard stared hard at Rodney and then gave a single, sharp nod. He turned abruptly. "Pack what you can carry. We're leaving."
"Just like that?" The other man asked, almost belligerently, but he backed down when Sheppard merely stared at him, the whole group moving quickly, and that was when Rodney realized they had another problem.
"Um, how do we plan to get all these people to the air base?"
Sheppard led them to an enclosed garage and the small camper van parked inside, climbing behind the wheel; Rodney and Lorne claimed the two front passenger seats. The rest of Sheppard's group piled into the back while one of them opened the garage door, letting in the bitingly cold air. It took a couple of tries before the engine turned over, and then they were heading out into the snow-covered world. The camper van skidded several times over patches of thick ice but Sheppard controlled the camper with none of the panic that had Rodney wishing he had chosen to sit in the back where he couldn't see his impending doom on the icy roads of Seattle. They saw very few vehicles moving as Lorne directed them towards the air base. Despite the heater working at full blast Rodney could feel the cold penetrating the metal shell of the camper van and Rodney wished he could lean just a little closer to Sheppard to share some body heat, though the very thought brought up some vivid images of him and Sheppard that would likely get him thrown out into the snow if Sheppard found out.
They made better time than Rodney anticipated, passing through an abandoned checkpoint at the air base before heading straight for one of the hangers. The door opened enough to allow the camper van entrance and closed quickly behind them. It was freezing in the hanger with Rodney's small group huddled around a fire built close to the Chinook.
"I'd better...." Rodney indicated towards the Chinook, wondering how Zelenka and Mako-Miko were getting on with the repairs, but knowing he would be able to assist despite having never worked on helicopters before.
Rodney turned abruptly to go inside the Chinook rather than round the front only to walk straight into Sheppard, who seemed to have followed him. Sheppard's gloved hands grabbed Rodney's upper arms, his touch barely noticeable beneath the layers of thermals, fleece, and bulky jacket, but Rodney felt those lurid thoughts push to the top again, losing himself momentarily in Sheppard's gold and green-flecked, hazel eyes.
"Um..." he pushed past, ignoring Sheppard's frown, finding Zelenka working in the cockpit.
"I have traced fault to this component," Zelenka stated without preamble, and Rodney momentarily forgot all about Sheppard as he dropped down beside Zelenka and started opening up another panel.
He stopped only when the aroma of chicken soup filled the Chinook, accepting the mug from Sheppard warily. The temptation to ask if anyone had added any citrus died when he saw Jeannie standing by the door with several more mugs on a tray, intended for the others. Although he and Jeannie had a falling out a few years back when she decided to give up science and start a family with Kaleb, they had patched up their sibling relationship so he was 95% certain she had no plans to kill him, especially now. It was good, and he saw Sheppard smiling as Rodney drank the soup happily.
An hour later the Chinook repairs were completed. It was also fully refueled, but that meant they only had half an hour at most before the eye of the storm reached them, and Rodney knew they could not afford to be caught in the eye.
The others had spent the time wisely, packing the Chinook with their belongings ready to leave at a moment's notice. Everyone climbed on-board, strapping into seats while Rodney hovered close to the cockpit, nervously rubbing his hands together as he hoped their repairs had worked. Lorne took the co-pilot seat, knowing enough to read off figures for Sheppard as he made pre-flight checks. Rodney sighed in relief as the rotors began to turn, seeing two of the men waiting until the last moment before opening the hanger doors completely. They raced back to the Chinook, clambering on-board and closing the hatch behind them. Although the hanger was large and the doors wide, Rodney was glad they had a real helicopter pilot at the controls because there wasn't a lot of clearance for the Chinook. He could feel the Chinook lifting, hovering just a few feet above the ground before moving forward at a slow speed, clearing the hanger with ease. From the wide smile gracing his face Rodney knew Sheppard was in his element and it made him look even more beautiful in Rodney's eyes.
"Get strapped in," Sheppard ordered. "It's going to get a little bumpy."
Rodney strapped himself into one of the crew seats behind the cockpit, and just in time too as the helicopter began to shudder from the turbulence of the storm, dropping suddenly, and causing some of the children to cry out fearfully. The shuddering stopped abruptly and Rodney almost wished he didn't have a window seat when they passed into the deadly eye of the storm. The sky was an incredible blue above them, and so still, but moments later they were back inside the surrounding storm clouds with the helicopter feeling like it might shudder itself to pieces at any moment, before the super-cooled air could freeze the fuel lines. The storm was so wide by now that it took an hour before the turbulence began to ease up and throughout it all Sheppard remained firm at the controls, giving soft, un-harried orders to Lorne. When they finally cleared the worst of the storm Rodney looked down at the snow-covered world below, beautiful and pristine.
A few hours after leaving Seattle Rodney could hear Sheppard on the radio talking to someone on the ground. They had one stop to make on the way to Mexico, to pick up Rodney's prototype generator, and as most people had evacuated the area it was easy enough for Sheppard to set down very close to Rodney's building in the large parking lot. Sheppard insisted on heading into Rodney's laboratory with him despite Lorne's objections to losing their only pilot. Eventually five of them ventured out, covering the distance quickly. It seemed strange at first because Rodney had never seen snow in this part of the country, banked up high against the door. He used his thumbprint and retinal scan to unlock the security door, gathering up his research papers and tools with Zelenka's assistance while Lorne and Sheppard's man picked up the generator. Sheppard remained on guard, watching for any danger, and they had left Lorne's soldier guarding the Chinook.
"Let's go," Sheppard ordered, and they moved quickly back towards the Chinook.
As he raced back across the snow-laden parking lot Rodney saw shadows moving from across the street, now understanding the danger this side trip had posed, but the US military and government needed his research. Sheppard raced to the cockpit and had the rotors spinning before Rodney had even started to secure the generator, lifting off quickly. Rodney heard pings of something striking metal, shocked when he realized someone was shooting at them. He glanced out the widow as the ground receded, seeing several shapes running through the thick snow beneath them.
The rest of the flight to the US refugee camp in Mexico was uneventful. It was a shock to see so many people again after days of empty streets and landscape. Rodney thought he would lose Sheppard within the sea of refugees and was both surprised but pleased when Sheppard stuck to his side. He left only to pilot one of the Chinooks sent to New York to rescue people who had survived both the tsunami and the storm.
Three months later, when many of the refugees headed back into the lower States of the US to start rebuilding their lives and their country, John was still by his side.
Three years later, with Rodney's generator in full production offering clean power, John was still by his side as more than a protector or a mere friend. Apparently Rodney was his type in every way that mattered after all, and Rodney had never been happier.
END