dig

Guard
by Hetre

After surfing and scuba diving, rock climbing, and hiking, but before he had opened up enough to talk about planes, Sheppard had described to Rodney what it felt like to hang-glide. Rodney's imagination was vast and extraordinary, and when he pictured Sheppard hang-gliding it become somehow tied up with the Pegasus galaxy. In his mind, Sheppard used the Rogallo wing and parachute fabric and spent the whole day gliding over Atlantis, with the ocean crinkling in gray waves underneath him.

Rodney didn't think of it often. Sheppard was always there. It was hard to imagine him with his arms hooked around metal bars, the glider wings stretching out on either side, when he was right there next to Rodney bargaining C4 for barley, or saving their lives with a Mensa test of all things.

It was easier to think about when Sheppard wasn't around. Rodney watched the dot that was Sheppard's jumper as it moved closer to the Wraith hive ships, and thought of him turning in slow circles above the city, as if he were standing guard.