MELTDOWN

By Enola Jones

Written for the "12 Days of Christmas" challenge. Day 1: four words challenge: Meltdown, Tinsel, Power, Frozen – and bonus word Fruit Loop.

It looked like a discoloured Fruit Loop mixed with some crappy tinsel. It sat in the palm of his hand, where his fingers were frozen from burns, unable to curl around it.

Carson tsked as he looked at the result of the latest power surge in the labs. "Tell me again how this happened."

"No," he ground out. "I've told you twice."

"You've been taking lessons from Ronon, lad," Carson teased, gently coaxing the results of the meltdown off of his palm and putting it aside. "You panicked when the power surged and grabbed this off of the console with your bare hand?"

"I didn't panic," he snapped. "I reacted. And there wasn't time to get any protection. It was overloading and had to come off now." He hissed as Carson treated the burned hand.

"What was an Ancient device doing on the console anyway?"

"We were monitoring its energy output -- and it spiked. Can I go now?"

"No, you're going to rest until those painkillers kick in."

"Hm." Carson helped him lay on the table and the painkillers kicked in -- with a kick. He was asleep moments later.

Carson ran gentle fingers across his forehead and whispered, "You're changing, Rodney. Being near your team is nothing but good for you." He glanced at the burned hand and sighed. "Although we're going to have to talk about this self-sacrificing streak you seem to be developing...."

THE END




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