Switch, 3/?
Dec. 18th, 2007 07:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fiercelydreamed*
"Those are men's clothes," Ronon says after she steps out from behind the curtain.
Jo pauses with her forearm stuck out in front of her, fingers of the other hand stalling in the middle of rolling the sleeve back. If there is one person she has met in her life who doesn't give a fuck what anyone else is wearing, it is Ronon Dex. "... Yeah?" she answers.
Ronon's got both arms folded across his chest. "They're Sheppard's clothes," he clarifies. "They're what he was wearing when he went through the gate."
"Yeah, I know," she snaps, and goes back to rolling the cuff up, "because I was the one who put them on this morning." She's unreasonably pissed off at his use of the third person. She knows to expect questions from Carter or Teyla, and god knows she's never surprised by an argument from Rodney, but Ronon's always had her back.
"If Sheppard was a woman, why would he be wearing men's clothing?" he asks dryly. His mouth and eyes have turned up at the corners, that tight curve that looks like a smile but really means he doesn't trust you for shit and is biding his time until you give him an excuse to start hitting you. He'd had that look when they went to meet their Replicator copies, and every time he was within spitting distance of Michael. And great, that's what this day really needs: a paranoia flare-up from Ronon.
Jo tucks the fold of her pant leg a little more comfortably into her boot and then straightens, giving him the most sardonic look she can manage. The two of them have a lot in common, and one of the traits they share is a deep belief in the reassuring power of sarcasm. "Because when you're 6'1" and wear a size thirteen boot, the standard issue women's uniform really isn't going to cut it?"
Ronon doesn't even blink, but his smile gets a little wider. "What about underwear?"
To her annoyance, embarrassment prickles hotly under her collar. Not about the damn boxers, which make up about half her underwear supply, but because all she's got under her uniform shirt is an undershirt. For a day on Atlantis, that's more or less SOP -- one of the virtues of being small-breasted is not having to bother -- but she always wears a sports bra for missions, and the only reason she's not right now is that she and Rodney accidentally left it on the floor of the storage closet around the corner from the locker room. Her nipples start to tighten at the memory, and she crosses her arms, props her hip against a table, and doesn't look in Rodney's direction.
"Hey, how come I'm the one who has to play twenty questions here?" she asks, gesturing with one hand. "Because I can't really remember the last few hours, and I think this whole 'supposed to be a guy' thing would be a lot more convincing if you'd fill in the blanks."
"What's the last thing you do remember?" Carter asks in a tone of mild interest.
Jo meets her eyes and doesn't say, walking through the wormhole and wondering if Rodney was looking at my ass. "Gating offworld," she says, and then thinks for a minute. "Simpson came into the control room right before I went through, wanted to talk to you about ... maintenance on jumper 7?"
Carter looks a little surprised. "That's right."
Behind her, Rodney suddenly says, "What was the last mission we went on before this one?"
"M9N-316, renewing our trade agreement with the Allegar," Jo says immediately, and she can tell by the way Carter, Teyla, and Ronon shift that she's got it.
Rodney's shoulders are still curled inward, his arms tucked around himself and his face turned to the side. His voice stays perfectly dispassionate as he says, "M4D-058 -- what did you name your country?"
Jo lets her posture go a little looser, the way she learned to do whenever COs assumed she was tuning out in meetings and tried to test her. "I didn't. It was already called Hallona."
Rodney nods with all the investment of an evaluator checking a box on a clipboard. "How did you find out about the SGC?"
"Carson, drone, helicopter, O'Neill," she says.
She gives him a pseudo-bored look that means, come on, quit wasting my time. If he can feel the weight of it, he doesn't give any indication. "What flavor were the muffins this morning?" He sound like a recording of himself.
Grateful to have an excuse to scowl, Jo snaps, "I wouldn't know, McKay. You ate mine." Rodney's shoulders twitch a little at that, and he grunts low in his throat. "Are we done now? You convinced I'm not a Replicator?"
"Keller scanned you for nanites already," he says, and his eyes don't even pause on her face as he straightens and tells Carter, "The timelines shouldn't be this consistent, but it'll take a more extensive battery of--"
There's a round pear-persimmon-thing on the counter behind Jo, probably left over from someone's lunch, and she picks it up and starts tossing it from hand to hand. "No. It won't."
Everyone turns back to look at her (except for Ronon, who hasn't looked away since she woke up). Out of her periphery, she can see that Rodney's face is finally turned in her direction. "Excuse me?" he says.
She doesn't give him the satisfaction of looking back, just keeps her eyes on the fruit. "Whatever the hell's going on here, I'm pretty sure that you've already ruled out the alternate universe idea."
Rodney folds his arms a little more tightly over his chest, expression belligerent. "And how exactly did you--"
"Rod," Jo cuts him off, letting the fruit land hard in her hand and flipping it back up into the air again. Before he can get a word in, she continues, "First -- he remembered everything when he got here. Second -- you guys, or at least Carter and Keller, seem pretty convinced my name should be John. And third -- given the amount of power it took to get Rod here and back again, I think someone would have noticed if we'd bridged the gap between universes again. So why--" and she rebounds the fruit off the wall and into a garbage can, then pins Rodney with the most sharp-edged smile in her arsenal, because she's really fucking close to losing her temper here and doesn't want to have any projectiles in her hands if it happens-- "don't you all quit jerking me around and just tell me what the hell is happening?"
And as Rodney stares at her, face tight and things flickering through his eyes faster than she can read them, it's Teyla who sighs, meets her eyes easily when Jo turns at the sound, and says, "We don't know."
*
[All installments archived here.]
"Those are men's clothes," Ronon says after she steps out from behind the curtain.
Jo pauses with her forearm stuck out in front of her, fingers of the other hand stalling in the middle of rolling the sleeve back. If there is one person she has met in her life who doesn't give a fuck what anyone else is wearing, it is Ronon Dex. "... Yeah?" she answers.
Ronon's got both arms folded across his chest. "They're Sheppard's clothes," he clarifies. "They're what he was wearing when he went through the gate."
"Yeah, I know," she snaps, and goes back to rolling the cuff up, "because I was the one who put them on this morning." She's unreasonably pissed off at his use of the third person. She knows to expect questions from Carter or Teyla, and god knows she's never surprised by an argument from Rodney, but Ronon's always had her back.
"If Sheppard was a woman, why would he be wearing men's clothing?" he asks dryly. His mouth and eyes have turned up at the corners, that tight curve that looks like a smile but really means he doesn't trust you for shit and is biding his time until you give him an excuse to start hitting you. He'd had that look when they went to meet their Replicator copies, and every time he was within spitting distance of Michael. And great, that's what this day really needs: a paranoia flare-up from Ronon.
Jo tucks the fold of her pant leg a little more comfortably into her boot and then straightens, giving him the most sardonic look she can manage. The two of them have a lot in common, and one of the traits they share is a deep belief in the reassuring power of sarcasm. "Because when you're 6'1" and wear a size thirteen boot, the standard issue women's uniform really isn't going to cut it?"
Ronon doesn't even blink, but his smile gets a little wider. "What about underwear?"
To her annoyance, embarrassment prickles hotly under her collar. Not about the damn boxers, which make up about half her underwear supply, but because all she's got under her uniform shirt is an undershirt. For a day on Atlantis, that's more or less SOP -- one of the virtues of being small-breasted is not having to bother -- but she always wears a sports bra for missions, and the only reason she's not right now is that she and Rodney accidentally left it on the floor of the storage closet around the corner from the locker room. Her nipples start to tighten at the memory, and she crosses her arms, props her hip against a table, and doesn't look in Rodney's direction.
"Hey, how come I'm the one who has to play twenty questions here?" she asks, gesturing with one hand. "Because I can't really remember the last few hours, and I think this whole 'supposed to be a guy' thing would be a lot more convincing if you'd fill in the blanks."
"What's the last thing you do remember?" Carter asks in a tone of mild interest.
Jo meets her eyes and doesn't say, walking through the wormhole and wondering if Rodney was looking at my ass. "Gating offworld," she says, and then thinks for a minute. "Simpson came into the control room right before I went through, wanted to talk to you about ... maintenance on jumper 7?"
Carter looks a little surprised. "That's right."
Behind her, Rodney suddenly says, "What was the last mission we went on before this one?"
"M9N-316, renewing our trade agreement with the Allegar," Jo says immediately, and she can tell by the way Carter, Teyla, and Ronon shift that she's got it.
Rodney's shoulders are still curled inward, his arms tucked around himself and his face turned to the side. His voice stays perfectly dispassionate as he says, "M4D-058 -- what did you name your country?"
Jo lets her posture go a little looser, the way she learned to do whenever COs assumed she was tuning out in meetings and tried to test her. "I didn't. It was already called Hallona."
Rodney nods with all the investment of an evaluator checking a box on a clipboard. "How did you find out about the SGC?"
"Carson, drone, helicopter, O'Neill," she says.
She gives him a pseudo-bored look that means, come on, quit wasting my time. If he can feel the weight of it, he doesn't give any indication. "What flavor were the muffins this morning?" He sound like a recording of himself.
Grateful to have an excuse to scowl, Jo snaps, "I wouldn't know, McKay. You ate mine." Rodney's shoulders twitch a little at that, and he grunts low in his throat. "Are we done now? You convinced I'm not a Replicator?"
"Keller scanned you for nanites already," he says, and his eyes don't even pause on her face as he straightens and tells Carter, "The timelines shouldn't be this consistent, but it'll take a more extensive battery of--"
There's a round pear-persimmon-thing on the counter behind Jo, probably left over from someone's lunch, and she picks it up and starts tossing it from hand to hand. "No. It won't."
Everyone turns back to look at her (except for Ronon, who hasn't looked away since she woke up). Out of her periphery, she can see that Rodney's face is finally turned in her direction. "Excuse me?" he says.
She doesn't give him the satisfaction of looking back, just keeps her eyes on the fruit. "Whatever the hell's going on here, I'm pretty sure that you've already ruled out the alternate universe idea."
Rodney folds his arms a little more tightly over his chest, expression belligerent. "And how exactly did you--"
"Rod," Jo cuts him off, letting the fruit land hard in her hand and flipping it back up into the air again. Before he can get a word in, she continues, "First -- he remembered everything when he got here. Second -- you guys, or at least Carter and Keller, seem pretty convinced my name should be John. And third -- given the amount of power it took to get Rod here and back again, I think someone would have noticed if we'd bridged the gap between universes again. So why--" and she rebounds the fruit off the wall and into a garbage can, then pins Rodney with the most sharp-edged smile in her arsenal, because she's really fucking close to losing her temper here and doesn't want to have any projectiles in her hands if it happens-- "don't you all quit jerking me around and just tell me what the hell is happening?"
And as Rodney stares at her, face tight and things flickering through his eyes faster than she can read them, it's Teyla who sighs, meets her eyes easily when Jo turns at the sound, and says, "We don't know."
*
[All installments archived here.]