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This debriefing, like most debriefings with Woosley, seemed to never end.
Evan and his team were tired and filthy; it was the rainy (and apparently also muddy) season on PX2-757. He was desperate for a shower, a few Tylenol, and a hot meal. Evan clenched his jaw, and immediately regretted it as pain shot through the right side of his jaw. He had to blink rapidly to clear his vision before turning his gaze back to Mr. Woolsey.
His toothache had evolved from an annoyance into a constant ache. Now, he could no longer chew on his right side. He was also exhausted, the ache in his jaw waking him up constantly.
Finally, Woolsey seemed to run out of things to say and Evan beat a hasty retreat. After a quick detour to his room for a shower and a stop by the infirmary to beg a few more Tylenol for his ‘headache.’’
He found the rest of his team in the mess hall. Evan discretely picked up some soup and a soft roll while the rest of his team dug-in to hearty plates of pasta and roast uh-something.. They were gleefully sharing the tale of Stackhouse missing a step on the path and sliding the entire way down the ridge line on his backside.
“Major, your tooth still bothering you?” Dr. Parrish asked. Evan was a bit startled. The Doc could identify a plant at fifty paces, but wasn’t usually as observant when it came to people.
Evan nodded and took a quick sip of soup to avoid responding.
“You going to go see Dr. Brennen tomorrow?” asked Stevens, his team’s XO. Evan internally cringed. Dr. Brennan was the base’s dentist.
“I am not sure it’s worth a visit,” he hedged. Pulling apart his roll, Evan turned to Coughlin and Walker, “so who do you think is going to win next week? Army or Airforce.” It was a blatant topic change, but his team allowed it. Even if they did see his wince as he took the first bite of his roll.
—---
The next morning Evan had to admit that his tooth was certainly worth a visit to Dr. Brennen. But he still wasn’t going to go. However, after a hot compress and three Tylenol failed to relieve his pain and the growing swelling on the right side of his face, he decided that maybe a trip to the infirmary was in order.
He hoped that Carson was busy, but no such luck. It was the head CMO himself who greeted Evan at the front door.
“Morning Major,” he said, ushering Evan to one of the nearby infirmary beds, “your headache still bothering you?”
Of course Carson knew about his ‘headache.’ Evan grimaced, then grimaced again when grimacing hurt. Carson’s eyes narrowed.
“Actually doc,” Evan mumbled, “I am having some pain in my…face.”
It only took a few seconds for Carson to snap on some gloves and then a few more seconds to have Evan cringing away in discomfort as the doctor tried to palpate his face. Evan’s reaction caused Carson to pause. The doc continued much more gently to run his hands over Evan’s face and neck
“Just how long has this pain been going on for?” Carson asked, his eyes focused on his hands.
When he hesitated just a moment longer than was customary Carson grew very, very suspicious. Evan was honest to the point of a fault. He knew this, and he knew that Carson knew this.
The doctor pulled his hands back from examining Evan and fixed him with a stare. Even the marines knew not to mess with Doctor Beckett when he was in ‘doctor’ mode.
“Umm, uh about a week and a half?” Evan confessed. Opting for truth.
“Uh huh,” Beckett replied, unimpressed. He grabbed some sort of scope thingy.
“Open wide.” Becket instructed.
Evan tried, he really did. But pain kept him from opening his mouth more than an inch or two.
“All right lad,” Beckett sighed. “Let’s get you under the scanner instead.”
Fifteen minutes later and Evan had his answer.
“Well, lad,” he said, “it will likely come as no surprise to you, but you have an abscessed tooth.”
Evan nodded, but didn’t say anything.
“I have called Doc Brennan and he has plenty of appointments available.”
Evan nodded again, but didn’t say anything. He absentmindedly rubbed his sweaty hands against his BDUs.
“Is there something you can give me that would help?” Evan finally asked. He took a moment to look up and caught Beckett’s sympathetic gaze. The doctor regarded him for a long moment.
“I can give you some antibiotics,” he said. “This will take care of the infection. But you will still have to go to the dentist to get your tooth fixed.”
‘Yeah, okay.” Evan muttered, breaking eye contact. “Can we just do that?”
The silence this time crept past uncomfortable.
Evan started when a hand reached out and grasped his shoulder.
“Evan, lad. What has got you so against the dentist?” He asked.
“I am just really busy,” Evan lied, eyes on the floor.
Beckett didn’t buy it.
“I will get the antibiotics ready for you and then get you scheduled for an appointment with Doc Brennen. I expect you to be there.” Beckett was using his ‘doctor’ voice so Evan just nodded. Anything to postpone the visit a bit longer.
He slunk out of the infirmary with his antibiotics and an appointment he wasn’t sure he could keep. Evan had never considered himself an irrational man, and certainly never a coward. But now, he wasn’t so sure.
—---
On the day of his appointment, Evan woke up in a cold sweat, shaking and muttering. Damn that stupid planet. Nothing had even happened to him. Nothing at all.
But the Pegasus galaxy was fucked up. No more so than Earth, but here everything felt more visceral. And pulling a bloody tooth out of the screaming mouth of someone was considered dentistry on some of these planets.
But Evan had alway had a problem with dentists and this had left an indelible impression. The hollering of the old man as they had burst into the hut. The old man curled up on his side moaning, drooling out a mouthful of blood. The ‘dentist’ holding the rotten tooth in a set of rusty tongs.
Evan had faced violence before, but the cruelty of poverty was something different. They had been doing the old man a favor by pulling out his tooth. But this ‘mercy’ had come at the cost of his dignity and a great deal of pain.
The man reminded Evan of his grandfather.
The bloody tongs and the sobbing. He could smell the iron and infection in his dreams.
Evan rubbed his jaw. The swelling was going down, and maybe he could get away with skipping his appointment. After all, if it wasn’t infected it was fine, right?
He went about his morning as usual, and even managed some soggy cereal for breakfast. By the time his appointment came around, Evan was firmly entrenched in a mound of paperwork and resolved to ‘forget’ he had somewhere to be.
He was surprised when Sheppard walked into his office. Well, technically he and Sheppard shared an office, but it was rare to actually find Sheppard in it. The man was repelled by paperwork with the same strong force that seemed to attract him to trouble. With the end-of-week reports coming due, Evan hadn’t expected to see him until Monday.
Sheppard slouched his way over to Evan’s desk.
“I will take it from here Major,” he said, pulling paperwork out from under Evan’s pen. “I know you have an appointment to go to.”
Evan squinted suspiciously up at Sheppard. This never happened.
“Beckett put you up to this, didn’t he, Sir?”
Sheppard was a better liar than Evan, but right now he wasn’t really trying.
“Maybe,” he said. “You were planning on ‘forgetting’ about it, weren't you?” Sheppard guessed.
Evan’s face was enough of an answer.
‘I suspected as much,” Sheppard said, before digging into his BDU pocket and pulling out a few pills. “Beckett gave me these to give to you. He said they will keep the infection in your tooth from coming back.”
Evan’s shoulders slumped in gratitude, and he reached gratefully for the pills.
“Thanks sir,” he said, and then quickly washed them down with some water.
Sheppard just nodded and then instead of leaving settled down at his own desk and started going through his email. Or maybe just to play solitaire on his computer, Evan wasn’t sure.
Evan made his way through a stack of requisition forms before moving on to some training reports. He was feeling a lot more at ease. He rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times. The stress of the past few weeks was catching up to him. He was tired.
He blinked again and realized he had lost his place in the reports. He leaned back in his chair, his head fuzzy. Maybe he should go to his quarters for a bit and lay down.
Evan startled when he felt a hand on his elbow. He looked up and found Sheppard standing right next to him.
“Come on Major,” he said, “It’s time to go.”
Evan got obediently to his feet with a mumbled ‘yes, Sir’ before it occurred to him that he didn’t know where they were going. It took him longer than normal to compose the words to ask.
“If I recall correctly, you have an appointment with the dentist.” Sheppard said as he guided Evan by his elbow toward the door.
“What?”
Evan tried to stop but Sheppard had a good grip on him and he wasn’t about to fight with a superior officer. He was, very slowly, realizing that something was wrong.
“Umm..Sir, I really don’t think.. I mean…uhhh” Evan stalled.
“You don’t want to be late, do you Major?” Sheppard asked, and urged him forward. It seemed like a very reasonable question.
“No, Sir.” Evan replied as he moved towards the door. However, his feet weren’t feeling so cooperative and Evan felt himself wobble. He felt Sheppard’s grip tighten on his arm.
“A little help in here, if you would, Sergeant,” Sheppard called. Suddenly Stevens was in the office and grasping Evan’s other arm.
“Brent? What are you doing here?” Evan asked, blinking stupidly at his XO. They were not due for a mission today, he was sure of it.
“Hi Major,” Stevens had a weirdly big smile on his face. “I thought I would stop by in case you needed me.”
“Oh,” That was nice, Evan thought. He didn’t have anything else to say as Sheppard and Sevens guided him down the hall. It wasn’t until they were exiting the transporter on the medical level and walking past the infirmary entrance that Evan remembered where they were going.
“Woah, woah, woah,” he said, focusing on his feet and finally managing to get them to obey the order to stop. He put up enough passive resistance to get both Sheppard and Stevens to come to a halt. Luckily for him they didn’t let go of his arms because he quickly overbalanced and started to fall backwards.
They both scrambled for him and barely kept him on his feet.
“You drugged me,” Evan slurred. The realization drawing with embarrassing slowness. His head was getting heavier but he still managed to jerk his chin up and meet Sheppard’s hazel eyes. His CO didn’t seem the least bit abashed.
“Technically, you drugged yourself,” Sheppard replied.
“What?” Evan sputtered, not realizing they were walking again. He was sure he would have remembered if he had drugged himself.
“I handed you the pills, but you were the one who took them.”
“But…You told me they were antibiotics!”
“You should pay more attention, Major. I just told you they would keep the infection in your tooth from coming back. And they will, because they are allowing us to take you to the dentist.”
Evan starred at Sheppard, open mouthed, in a mix of confusion, admiration, and betrayal. He could hear Stevens chuffing a laugh on his other side.
Before he realized it, they were passing through the door to Doc Brennen’s office. Evan’s legs had stopped listening to him entirely and it was only the two men on either side that were keeping him upright. He was … he wasn’t sure what he was … vaguely disgruntled, maybe. He was certainty floaty.
He didn’t want to be here, he knew that for sure.
“I know Major, but we have to get your tooth taken care of. I am sure Dr. Heightmeyer can help you with your phobia later, but this needs to happen first.” Huh. Evan must have said that out loud.
Wait. How did Colonel Sheppard know he had a phobia?
“I can put two-and-two together Major,” Sheppard replied. Shit. Had he said that out loud too?
For some reason, Stevens had started to laugh next to him.
“Sit down, Major. You will be just fine.” Sheppard instructed in the long-suffering voice he usually reserved for Dr. McKay.
Evan sat, only to discover he was in a dentist chair. He whindmilled his uncoordinated limbs in an attempt to stand up but firm hands on his shoulders kept him in place.
“Major Lorne.” Came a friendly voice to his right.
Evan glanced over and saw Doc Brennan. The man was older, bordering on elderly, and certainly no threat to a trained soldier. In fact, he reminded Evan of the old man in the hut…
Oh God, the old man in the hut.
“Easy, Major,” Brennan soothed, “everything will be fine.” He was gently fitting a plastic mask over Evan’s face.
Evan wasn’t convinced, but the hands on his shoulders kept him from moving. That and the knowledge that Sheppard and his team would never hurt him.
“Deep breaths, Major. When you wake up this will all be over.” Shit, it wasn’t oxygen.
The knowledge didn’t stop Evan from breathing. A few breaths and he decided he didn’t want to fight. Everything was fine. And he was so heavy.
He blinked once, twice, and then closed his eyes.
—---
Evan woke up in the infirmary, groggy and confused.
He remembered being in the office…and Sheppard coming in… and then nothing. What happened?
He blinked a few times and stared at the ceiling until a rustle of paper caught his attention.
Colonel Sheppard was sitting to his left, leafing through a golfing magazine that was six months out of date.
“Welcome back,” the Colonel drawled, without looking up.
“Sir,” Evan responded. Fuck. Now he remembered. He wasn’t sure if he should be mad, grateful, or embarrassed. He also wasn’t sure if he was in trouble. He opted for discretion and kept his mouth shut.
Oh yeah, his mouth. He probed his problem tooth with his tongue. The tooth was still there but the pain was gone. He could feel an unusual roughness against his tongue and the irony tang of almost-blood. Looked like Doc Brennen had done his work. While he was sore, he wasn’t anywhere near the level of pain he had been in earlier.
“It was a very nice thing you said, Major.” Sheppard broke the silence, while still looking at the magazine.
Evan blinked. He shifted through his muddy thoughts trying to figure out what it was he could have said. He came up blank.
“Um…yes, Sir?” the statement went up at the end.
Sheppard smiled, and finally looked up. “That you trust your team and I, that you know we won’t hurt you.”
Evan blinked again, and then recalled what he had thought right before falling asleep. No, not thought. Said. He kind of wished he was still asleep right now.
“That tells me you are a good team lead, Major. Particularly since your team seems to think the same way about you.” Sheppard was openly grinning now. “I will be sure to put that in your next review.”
He then got up and appeared to get ready to leave. “I will tell you what, I will forget about you hiding a potentially serious medical condition as long as you manage to keep your appointment with Dr. Heightmeyer. It is scheduled for tomorrow.”
Sheppard put down the old magazine and caught Evan’s eyes. “That work for you, Major?”
Evan nodded, “Yes, Sir.”